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from Croatia to Bosnia,

The main respondent is a 26-year-old man from Morocco. According to the respondent, he left Lipa Camp on November 23rd 2023 at 7 pm. He got to the Bihac bus station and took a taxi to the border with Croatia. He recalls crossing and walking for about 7-8 km into Croatia. According to the respondent, there was a police vehicle hidden in the forest where two police officers saw him, but he recalls that he ran away. The respondent reports being close to the village named Korenica, around seven hours after leaving Bihac, at around 2-3 am on the next day. The respondent reports that he entered the village, in a point close to the bus station of Korenica. He recalls entering the village and hiding at a church for about one hour and a half, until the scheduled bus to Zagreb was going to appear. At this point the date is November 24th 2023. The respondent reports that he saw a group of people on the move who were also waiting for the bus. According to him, once the bus arrived, the group of people started running towards the bus to guarantee a place on it. He states that at this point the bus was full, and the bus driver subsequently stopped the bus, and called the police. The respondent reports that the police arrived at the bus station and forced the group of 40 people, including himself, into their vehicles. According to him, the individuals within the group were from Afghanistan, Morocco, Turkey, Algeria and Kurdistan. The respondent reports that amongst the group there were a few families with small children. He states that there were three women and six minors amongst the individuals, while the rest were men. According to him, the youngest of the minors was 5 years old. The respondent claims that a group of 10 police vans arrived to the bus station. He claims that there were around 35 police officers, all of whom wore official police uniforms with the Croatian symbol, however, 12-13 of them were wearing black balaclavas.
The respondent states that the officers came towards the group with their guns out of the vehicles, shouting, “stop stop”, as to prevent the crowd from dispersing, and forcing the individuals to enter into their vehicles. According to the respondent, every police vehicle held around 8 or more people, and the police officers removed telephones from many of the individuals. The respondent recalls the vehicles being driven then to a border region between Bosnia and Croatia where there was a river. The respondent reports that once they arrived at that location, the police forced the people on the move out of the vehicles by threatening them with their guns. He states that although he was not beaten, some other people in the group were beaten with batons before the police forced them into the river. He claims that they were beaten badly. “When they [the police] grab you, and when you look at the police in the eyes, that is when they hit you. If you move your head like this [my informant then tilts his head towards the ground] then they will not” According to the respondent, once they arrived at the river bank, the police forced the group to enter the water. The respondent states that there was a line of police officers who were standing outside the river and did not allow the individuals to cross directly across the river to Bosnia. The respondent reports that the police threatened the individuals with guns and batons to force them to walk through the river, not across it. According to the respondent, the police officers forced the group of people on the move to walk for half an hour through the river in the early morning of the 24th of November, until they reached a certain point where the police ordered them to go ahead and to cross into Bosnia. During this half an hour, the respondent states that there were certain people pushed into the river by police officers who could not swim or walk in the water very well and fell. There were others who got too cold and tried to climb back up on land on the Croatian side. But those who did that, according to the respondent, were kicked back into the river by the police officers. The respondent recalls the water being up to his neck, which from a glance seemed to be around 5 feet high. The respondent states that the police destroyed the charging ports of his telephone and also destroyed the camera. He claims that while they were walking in the river for half an hour, the police officers started to throw the phones towards the people. Some people were able to catch the phones, while others could not, states the respondent. The respondent claims that he was wearing new shoes, the police forced him to remove them and threw them into the river as well. In addition, they threw cables and power banks with the phones into the river. The respondent reports as well that the 5-year-old child was also forced by the police to enter the water for the half an hour walk. According to the respondent, the child could neither swim nor could he walk through the deep water, so the mother had to carry her child for half an hour in the middle of the night in the river, before being allowed by Croatian police to exit into Bosnia.