On January 21st, 2017, 40 people on the move crossed the Hungarian-Serbian border near Horgoš. Some of them ran through the border and ran away. Fourteen people, including the interviewee stayed behind and got caught by police. Six or seven police cars came with two or four police officers in each of them, they also had two dogs with them.
The first thing the police did was to spray the eyes of the 14 people with tear gas. They then made the interviewee and three other people take their shoes off and stand in the snow, while the police were hitting them with police batons and kicking them. The police officers were wearing dark blue uniforms, and the interviewee describes that two of them were dressed differently, wearing some form of military trousers.
“They told us to put our hands up. When you put your hands down they hit you. We were standing in the snow, and they took our hats.”
The police then took the 14 people to a police van. There were 6 or 7 cars in total, but the police forced all the 14 people into one van. When they drove to the border, two other cars followed them. At the border, the police ordered them out of the van and made them form a line again. Then the police released dogs on them. The police took pictures and videos of the 14 people, and ordered them to read aloud a paper stating that they need to cross the border in a legal manner.