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The officers were laughing and pointing at them

Date & Time 2021-10-06
Location Near Horgos border crossing
Reported by Collective Aid
Coordinates 46.17508452, 19.9658721
Pushback from Hungary
Pushback to Serbia
Taken to a police station unknown
Minors involved yes
WLTI* involved no
Men involved yes
Age 13 - 25
Group size 20
Countries of origin Afghanistan
Treatment at police station or other place of detention detention
Overall number of policemen and policewomen involved 6
Violence used beating (with batons/hands/other), pepper spray
Police involved 6 Hungarian police officers in blue uniforms (Hungarian flag on the arm). 2 police white vans with blue lines

The respondent, a 17-year-old boy from Afghanistan, crossed the border from Serbia to Hungary on the morning of June 10th, 2021. He was travelling in a group of 20 people, all male from Afghanistan. The group included at least 7 minors between the ages of 13 and 17. They tried to cross the border in several cars but were detected in the vehicles by the Hungarian police at the border crossing.

The respondent stated that the police officers – 3 men and 3 women wearing blue uniforms with the Hungarian flag on their arms – used pepper spray on several people in the group, including some of the minors, as they opened the car doors. They also hit some of them several times with their fists while forcing them out of the vehicles.

“I am a human, they think I’m an animal” 

The interviewee described that the officers were laughing in the process and pointing at them and saying, “Look at this one.”

They were then walked to a police station at the border crossing, where they waited for 2 hours. After that time, the group was in two vehicles for 10 minutes to a gate in the fence – close to the border crossing in Horgos. The respondent described being jammed in with 12 people in the cage in the cargo area of one big white van with blue lines, in which they had to remain standing due to the lack of space. Upon arrival at the gate, they were taking pictures standing next to the vehicle as well as crossing the border. They were pushed back around 12 pm on the same day. The respondent stated that Serbian police officers were present on the other side but did not interact with the group.