Border violence

“all of them were racist, they were using very bad words with us, they were not respecting us and also sometimes they were beating the people who were [detained].”

“The conditions are not okay for a human being to live there”

"Everyday some people are trying to suicide"

“If somebody is slow or sick, they hit them with the baton to go back quickly, they were very rude to us.”

"[I]t looked like a morgue, like where they store dead bodies"

"Unaccompanied minors were mixed with the rest of the adults. There was not any special treatment by the authorities in this facility toward the minors"

"The bus trip took around 12 hours, we felt like dying inside until we arrived"

"[T]hey threw gas bombs that make your eyes cry"

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

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

"They disgraced me and made me feel that I am dirty, disgusting. They are afraid to touch me."

‘You are not allowed to sit here’

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

The police caught the boat and slashed it with a knife

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

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

'A real person would not stay there.'

'We really spent fifteen days in hell'

The respondent described being detected by thermal imaging cameras

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

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

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

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

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

“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, 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 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

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.

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

“We tried to create a shelter for ourselves from the tables and chairs that were in the square of B0 of the camp. We have wood on the floor and material over the top”.

"The camp is a hell because of things that are going on. There are people going in, but nobody going out”

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

“They drove us to a place that is like hell, in the name of Menidi ”

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 give us one paper to sign. I don’t know what was written in that paper but they forced me to sign this paper.”

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.

“It’s like in prison. […] I never felt safe there.”

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

"The first time he hit me on the back, and I fell down, then he hit me twice again, one time on my hand, one time on the ribs”

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

“If we ask them for food they ignore us.”

"I remain sometimes hungry. I know people who are hungry cause they need food."

"If I had a sheep or a dog I wouldn’t let them live there”

"I was in a lot of distress, I was worried something was going to happen”

"They beat a lot of people if they asked for medicine or any kind of help"

"We are going through a lot in the CCAC, so many things are happening.”

"The doctor didn’t allow me to talk about my knee.”

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

“We call it prison.”

A man with a gun followed them into the forest

The respondent reports that they were trying to see their children for two months and that she was not helped by the authorities

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

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

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

"Everyone knows that this is not a safe island."

"Even leaving the camp is a problem, you leave they are watching you, you go back they are watching you."

"Police were never nice to me"

“Crying so much, she didn’t know what was going to happen and it was hard for me to deal with it.”

"If you want to see a doctor they make you beg them, they provoke you, the same thing for clothes."

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

“I didn’t do any crime. They behaved like we are criminals, like I’m a murderer or a very big criminal. They [were] shouting and screaming at me. In a simple way they treated us like animals. They used batons and said ‘go and sit’, that kind of stuff.”

“I questioned [the officers] several times, in Amygdaleza and Corinth [PRDCs], [about] why they bring us here and they always said we don’t know anything.”

"Everyone there was sleeping on the floor"

"The people who stayed in the car and caught by the police officers were terrified"

“In their eyes, I was a criminal, a smuggler”

“Kato Poria is just like Guantanamo prison”

"The police do this often"

Although they did not understand the papers, they were reportedly not provided with a translator.

The uniformed men randomly chose two people from the group and said “you are the smugglers”

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

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

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.

"They didn’t explain, they just wanted to take me and they did it.”

"From every side we are just pushed back"

“I came to Europe to make my life better, not to be in prison for no reason, they are wasting my time I want to have a better life, help my family, and not be detained for no reason. And also be beaten up, get beaten up and be treated so”

The respondent stated that he was unable to contact his lawyer whilst detained because he did not have any money to pay for the service, despite his lawyer being provided by the state

They closed the door and hit him inside the truck

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"A lot of blood was flowing from my head"

"I don’t understand why they hit me"

“They wanted to kill me!”

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

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.

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

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

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

He was trapped under the car and could not escape it

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

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

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.

“My T-shirt was dripping with blood!”

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Why do they humiliate us?"

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

Afghani man severely beaten for 15 minutes by private security officers

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

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

They stepped on it until the screen was totally black

"We will come where you sleep and kill you"

" (...) since we got the rejection my wife cannot get medicine, cannot go to the hospital, the same for my kids and me."

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