This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.
“There was no air” 24 people put in the back space of the van with no seats or windows
Our interviewee, a 16-years-old Syrian, departed from Lipa camp in a group of 32 people from Egypt, Bangladesh, Syria, and Iraq (Kurdish) on 11th of November. Among them were three children in the age of 10, 12, and 13. The group drove for about 20-30 minutes and then walked for about 4 hours. Around 5 am on 12th of November the group seeking safety crossed the border into Croatia.
Lipa camp, where the respondent and the group departed from.
They continued waking for 10 hours. When they sat down to rest, police cars approached them – one marked police van and one unmarked civilian car. 5 police officers stepped out of the car. They asked the group if anyone spoke English and they replied that they did not. They slapped a few people, including our interviewee. One officer held his fingers and twisted them, resulting in injury. The officers were wearing blue uniforms with the Croatian coat of arms on the side of the arm.
The group was made to sit down and wait. During this time, the police allowed the people to eat the food they had brought with them in their backpacks. After about an hour and a half of waiting, one police car arrived and took a few people, and then another one, also taking a few people. Our interviewee remembered the license plates of the second car – the number after the letters on the Croatian plate were 0500503. These people were taken to another pushback location, as our interviewee later realized. The third vehicle, a marked police van, took the rest of the 24-25 people.
About 24 people were put in the back space of the van with no seats or windows (not made to transport people), in extremely crowded conditions. “There was no air,” our interviewee told us. They drove like this for 20-30 minutes. The officers were driving recklessly and very fast on the bumpy road, and the people were being thrown up and down.
After the car stopped, an officer opened the back door of the van and let the people out. The officers shot fire into the air and shouted: “go to Bosnia, hide, go to Bosnia.” “The children got very scared,” our interviewee told us. They continued yelling at the people and they beat them with batons and kicked them. They beat everyone except the children. The people started walking while the police officers walked behind them and kept hitting them. After 10-15 minutes, they reached a riverbank. The river was 15-20 meters wide. The group was beaten with batons and kicks again; this time the police also beat the children. Our interlocutor joined a father with two children, and they said that they were a family and that they wanted to go to a camp and apply for asylum, but the officers ignored them. They ordered the people to cross the river and started shooting their guns into the air. People ran across the river in fear for their lives. Someone fell into the river but was luckily saved by a fellow traveller.
The group was made to sit down and wait. During this time, the police allowed the people to eat the food they had brought with them in their backpacks. After about an hour and a half of waiting, one police car arrived and took a few people, and then another one, also taking a few people. Our interviewee remembered the license plates of the second car – the number after the letters on the Croatian plate were 0500503. These people were taken to another pushback location, as our interviewee later realized. The third vehicle, a marked police van, took the rest of the 24-25 people.
About 24 people were put in the back space of the van with no seats or windows (not made to transport people), in extremely crowded conditions. “There was no air,” our interviewee told us. They drove like this for 20-30 minutes. The officers were driving recklessly and very fast on the bumpy road, and the people were being thrown up and down.
After the car stopped, an officer opened the back door of the van and let the people out. The officers shot fire into the air and shouted: “go to Bosnia, hide, go to Bosnia.” “The children got very scared,” our interviewee told us. They continued yelling at the people and they beat them with batons and kicked them. They beat everyone except the children. The people started walking while the police officers walked behind them and kept hitting them. After 10-15 minutes, they reached a riverbank. The river was 15-20 meters wide. The group was beaten with batons and kicks again; this time the police also beat the children. Our interlocutor joined a father with two children, and they said that they were a family and that they wanted to go to a camp and apply for asylum, but the officers ignored them. They ordered the people to cross the river and started shooting their guns into the air. People ran across the river in fear for their lives. Someone fell into the river but was luckily saved by a fellow traveller.
The group continued walking, crossed the border into BiH, and walked more, until they reached a village. They called a taxi and it took them about 20 minutes by car to reach Lipa camp.This was the fourth time our young interviewee was pushed-back from Croatia to BiH. The previous time, as he told us, Croatian officials confiscated all his belongings and that of his co-travelers, including jackets, mobile phones, and money, and they set all of it on fire.
overview
32 people ,
from Egypt, Bangladesh, Syria, and Iraq (Kurdish),