Border violence

“They didn’t say anything to us, immediately, they just started spraying us in the face. I saw four police; they looked like they were enjoying themselves when they sprayed us, it’s a game to them.”

“I was walking back to the jungle, and they drove past us and sprayed us with pepper spray from inside the car…I feel like they could kill us if they wanted to. Who would know?”

“They didn’t say anything to us. We didn’t know what was happening.”

The respondent described having been slapped twice in his face, while the officer said something in the line of: “Hey, are you ISIS?”

When he asked about the rest of his money (100€), they told him that it was to pay for the food that he had received.

The officer hit him in the face several times while saying words in Greek.

They described being beaten by the authorities with batons on all parts of their bodies; they also highlighted being hit on their heads.

The officer said he would help them if they paid him money. They gave him all the money they had, which was 150 euros.

Around 200 people were taken on buses, including minors and deserted in Otoka.

He described that he was lying on the ground when he surrendered himself to the officers, who nevertheless started hitting him with sticks and their hands, and also kicked him.

The officers threatened the groups with pushing them out of Serbia if they wouldn’t comply with giving them the money.

The respondent reported that he was bleeding a lot from the head. After 10 minutes, the security guards drove off and left him in the forest.

“My T-shirt was dripping with blood!”

While on the ground, the officer did not leave him alone - he continued to assault him by punching and kicking his whole body.

The officers got out of the vehicle and started to kick his legs with their heavy boots.

When he asked for more water, the guard told him to drink from the toilet in his cell.

'The pain hindered my ability to sleep that night.'

We were all gathered in a room, sitting on the ground in a semicircle. There were about 130 of us because they had raked the entire port area. We had to hand over documents and telephones.

'He spat and insulted me before forcing me to leave the port zone.'

The officers subjected the individual to brutal beatings and kicks to the torso and head, which lasted approximately 30 minutes.

'Yesterday, the police hit me. I asked the officer why did you hit me?'

He described that the truck driver told him that he wanted to kill him.

“They wanted to kill me!”

The group was forced to descend from the bus, they were searched and made to board a white van.

One person was reportedly left with nothing but the pair of clothes he was wearing.

The police caught the boat and slashed it with a knife

“He saw me and he pushed the accelerator. The next time he will kill me.”

"Them calling me terrorist: that is not okay. I had to leave Afghanistan because of the Taliban"

‘You are not allowed to sit here’

‘At some point during the night my cousin collapsed and died shortly after (...) No one helped me’

"One of the police officers then stepped forward and kicked me violently on the left ribs, causing me to fall to the ground."

The respondent described being detected by thermal imaging cameras

'A real person would not stay there.'

'We really spent fifteen days in hell'

“We needed food and drink, but they did not give us anything to eat or drink for a day”

The police hit the respondent on the back of the head with a black pistol

"I left a community for a better community but it turned out they are no different"

"What is the problem, why has the police come to hit us, why are they aggressive with our group? We need to know."

"I don’t understand why they hit me"

"A lot of blood was flowing from my head"

"He said that if he would see me in the city again, he would harm me.”

The man in uniform spat on his face and insulted him repeatedly

"They can reject me as much as they want to but I cannot tolerate they insult my belief"

They would not receive any food or their belongings until they cleaned some of the hygiene facilities

He was trapped under the car and could not escape it

They stepped on it until the screen was totally black

The Private Security officer entered the room where he was sitting, slapped him and punched him on his abdomen, despite him being handcuffed with his hands behind his back

One of the officers put the phone on the ground and stepped on it, then, after he ensured that it was not working anymore, he gave it back

The guard released the dog, who aggressively bit the respondent on the leg, once again drawing blood

He presented his phone to the officers, who took it and told him to leave the carpark

“I tried to run away, but they caught me near the front gate. They hit me very hard. They beat me when I fell on the ground. I was very scared”

The police officers reportedly forced people to sit down by beating and kicking them and light was shone on peoples' eyes with torches

A police officer inflicted a shoulder injury on a 15-year-old boy that was so severe he remained unable to move it even three days after the incident

Several individuals were struck with batons and forced to lie on the ground, where they were subjected to verbal abuse, including being called "motherfucker" and were subsequently robbed.

He hit me and told his colleague that I had hurt myself while waiting under the truck

Man falls into the sea after being violently pushed out of the port area in Patras

"I walked back with a lot of anger and frustration at how we are treated every day"

"Why do they humiliate us?"

The officers burned down all the clothes, sleeping bags, tents, shoes that were left

"We will come where you sleep and kill you"

One of the officers drove over his leg with the police car

Afghani man severely beaten for 15 minutes by private security officers

German officers said "don't tell the Serbian Police we came (...) you give us money and we protect you when the Serbian police comes"

They were forced by the officers to kneel on the ground and threatened with guns

Three young men were severely beaten and bled from their injuries

The officers destroyed the camp and used physical violence against people on the move.

The police officer said, "You are from mafia, we don't want you here!" and proceeded to physically assault and extort members of the transit group

"I know they are not behaving well towards refugees, but I was not expecting the beating"

A man with a gun followed them into the forest

The officers started kicking and hitting this man with batons on the head and body

"They saw me, they started beating me, with everything, sticks, boot camps..."

They entered the building, kicked the doors and forced all the people to wake up and step outside their rooms

"He took them and forced them first to fully undress in front of everyone"

"From every side we are just pushed back"

"I was screaming and begging: I'm sick, don't hit me, he was hitting me harder"

"The police do this often"

They closed the door and hit him inside the truck

"What hurts me most is that they didn’t care if a person is sick or healthy and destroyed also the medicines like it was some illegal drugs"

"The guard then released the dog, who aggressively bit the respondent on the leg"