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Please don't hit my son, he is just a child, that's why he's walking slowly

Date & Time 2022-08-26
Location In the proximity of Beba Veche, close to route 682
Reported by No Name Kitchen
Coordinates 46.12297466, 20.28712767
Pushback from Romania
Pushback to Serbia
Taken to a police station no
Minors involved yes
WLTI* involved yes
Men involved yes
Age 4 - 35
Group size 6
Countries of origin Egypt
Treatment at police station or other place of detention
Overall number of policemen and policewomen involved 4
Violence used beating (with batons/hands/other), insulting
Police involved 4 Romanian officers, dark blue uniforms with patches on the torso and shoulder, 1 silver car

On Friday 26th August, at 8:00 pm, a group of 7 people from Egypt was pushed back from Romania to Serbia. The group consisted of one family (mother, father and their 3 children) and one single man.

As the respondent explained, the group left the Serbian town of Majdan in the evening of the 25th August and crossed the Serbian-Romanian border. After crossing the border, the respondent recalls walking for 3 km before seeing a silver car, which he believed was a police car.

The respondent reports that the group was near route 682 when the police approached them on foot, since the spot was not reachable by car.
The respondent recalls four officers wearing dark blue uniforms with some patches on the torso and shoulder. He does not remember any additional information. The officers reportedly forced them to walk back to Serbia, screaming:

“Go back to Serbia!“

The respondent describes two officers walking with them on their way back to Serbia. One officer was reportedly in front and the other behind them. The respondent was walking with his daughter and one of his sons while the other  group members were walking behind them. He remembers that the youngest of his children was the last one in the line, and one that the officer behind him was annoyed by the his slowness, so he started yelling at the child to go faster.

“He was screaming: Go fast, go fast!”

The respondent tried to explain to the officers that the child was only 4 years old and was not able to walk faster, but no one listened to him. One of them reportedly started hitting his son multiple times with a baton. The respondent begged the officer to stop, but he ignored him and reportedly started hitting the child again. The respondent, at that point, recalls telling to the police officer:

“Please, don’t hit my son! He is just a child, that’s why he’s walking slowly!“

Then he tried to speak to the officer in the front, but he said:

“I’m sorry but this is his job”

Before crossing the border back, the respondent recollects seeing another family from Mongolia, two adults and five children, a family he already knew. The respondent explained that the officers took pictures of their group and the other family before forcing them to keep walking towards Serbia. The respondent also describes the officers forcing the other family to stay. It was 8:30 pm when the group crossed the border and got back to Bosnia.