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I come here for a better life, but they treat me like an animal. Maybe they treat animals better than this
Our interviewee, a 40-years-old man from Egypt, traveled from Serbia to Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) with 40 other men on the night of 19th of October. Other travellers were from Syria, Egypt, Palestine (Gaza), and Morocco.
Approximate location. The respondent was not sure where the pushback took place, only that it was on the Croatian-Bosnian border near the border with Serbia.
After they arrived in BiH, they rested somewhere (location unknown) and then moved on foot, walking one and a half hour to the border with Croatia. After crossing the border, the Croatian police spotted them. The people started running away and the police released a service dog without a muzzle on them and started shooting gunfire in the air. One of the people running was caught by the “angry dog,” grabbed from his back, and knocked down. The group of people stopped.
There were five Croatian police officers in blue uniforms and one dog. They were very aggressive, yelling and swearing at people. They took all people’s belongings, including bags, food, water, money, clothes, and shoes. They forced people to strip till their underwear, although it was very cold. They took everyone’s mobile phones, smashed them, and threw them away. When they demanded our interviewee’s phone, he was willing to give it to them calmly, saying “no problem.” Despite that, the officer beat him brutally with a police baton. Our interlocutor’s elbow was especially badly injured – it was bruised and heavily swollen and had limited mobility due to excruciating pain he felt with movement and touch.
The police officers beat everyone; they were hitting people in all parts of their body, including heads, pushing people on the ground, kicking them, and stepping on them. Other people from the group also sustained injuries. Two other people showed us their injuries. One was hit in the face and had a bruise on his face and a mark on his ankle, which was also swollen. The other person had wounds on his wrist from being beaten with a thorny branch.
The police also humiliated and insulted the people. Then, all confiscated items were put in one vehicle, and the people were forced to board into the other vehicle. This was a large van, black and white color – white on the upper half and black on the lower half of the van. There was a large “police” inscription on it in blue. They forced all 40 people to squeeze into the van and wait there for about 30 minutes with no food, water, or access to toilets; there was lack of oxygen due to overcrowding; our interlocutor described it as having no air to breath. After about 30 minutes, the officers drove the group to the Bosnian border location of the pushback; the ride in suffocating conditions lasted for more than an hour.
There were five Croatian police officers in blue uniforms and one dog. They were very aggressive, yelling and swearing at people. They took all people’s belongings, including bags, food, water, money, clothes, and shoes. They forced people to strip till their underwear, although it was very cold. They took everyone’s mobile phones, smashed them, and threw them away. When they demanded our interviewee’s phone, he was willing to give it to them calmly, saying “no problem.” Despite that, the officer beat him brutally with a police baton. Our interlocutor’s elbow was especially badly injured – it was bruised and heavily swollen and had limited mobility due to excruciating pain he felt with movement and touch.
The police officers beat everyone; they were hitting people in all parts of their body, including heads, pushing people on the ground, kicking them, and stepping on them. Other people from the group also sustained injuries. Two other people showed us their injuries. One was hit in the face and had a bruise on his face and a mark on his ankle, which was also swollen. The other person had wounds on his wrist from being beaten with a thorny branch.
The police also humiliated and insulted the people. Then, all confiscated items were put in one vehicle, and the people were forced to board into the other vehicle. This was a large van, black and white color – white on the upper half and black on the lower half of the van. There was a large “police” inscription on it in blue. They forced all 40 people to squeeze into the van and wait there for about 30 minutes with no food, water, or access to toilets; there was lack of oxygen due to overcrowding; our interlocutor described it as having no air to breath. After about 30 minutes, the officers drove the group to the Bosnian border location of the pushback; the ride in suffocating conditions lasted for more than an hour.
The respondent’s injuries after being beaten by the police.
After the van stopped in a forested area of the Croatian-Bosnian border, the police officers ordered the people to get out and cross the border into BiH. The group walked across the border and through the forest in their underwear and without shoes in the cold of the night while the dog was barking behind them and the officers were firing their guns into the air.
The pushback location was in the area where criminal gangs operate. Our interviewee believed that this location was chosen intentionally by the Croatian police and that the police might be in an agreement with the border gangs who rob and kidnap people and extort money from their families. He believed that the police wanted them to be caught by the gangsters. However, the group was lucky to meet another group of people on the move, and they traveled together. Because the group was large, they were not attacked by the gang. The gangs attack people only where they are in smaller numbers, the interviewee told us according to the local knowledge among people on the move.
“I come here for a better life, but they treat me like an animal. Maybe they treat animals better than this” said our interviewee. This was the fifth time he was illegally pushed-back from Croatia to BiH by the Croatian police. During his first pushback, the group included families with small children, he told us.
The pushback location was in the area where criminal gangs operate. Our interviewee believed that this location was chosen intentionally by the Croatian police and that the police might be in an agreement with the border gangs who rob and kidnap people and extort money from their families. He believed that the police wanted them to be caught by the gangsters. However, the group was lucky to meet another group of people on the move, and they traveled together. Because the group was large, they were not attacked by the gang. The gangs attack people only where they are in smaller numbers, the interviewee told us according to the local knowledge among people on the move.
“I come here for a better life, but they treat me like an animal. Maybe they treat animals better than this” said our interviewee. This was the fifth time he was illegally pushed-back from Croatia to BiH by the Croatian police. During his first pushback, the group included families with small children, he told us.
overview
40 people ,
from Syria, Egypt, Palestine (Gaza), and Morocco,
aged 40, Unknown.