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They shot 4-5 times with a gun, so the group all ran into the forest

Date & Time 2023-01-16
Location Near Horgoš border
Reported by No Name Kitchen
Coordinates 46.1782407, 20.0182735
Pushback from Hungary
Pushback to Serbia
Taken to a police station no
Minors involved no
WLTI* involved no
Men involved no
Age unknown
Group size 8
Countries of origin Afghanistan, Syria
Treatment at police station or other place of detention
Overall number of policemen and policewomen involved
Violence used beating (with batons/hands/other), kicking, gunshots
Police involved 2 police cars; 2 Hungarian police officers dressed in blue uniforms; 2 Hungarian police officers dressed in black with the symbol of the Hungarian police on the arm and the face uncovered; 1 Hungarian police van (blue); 1 white bus

On the night of the 16th of January 2023, the respondent, an afghan person of around 28 years old left from Sombor and walked across the Serbian-Hungarian border. He reports that walking was very difficult because of the pouring rain. He was with a group of 8 people, coming from Afghanistan and Syria, and they spent all the night walking and running.

After 4 hours of walking in the direction of Budapest, around 2.30 am, they saw 2 cars approaching them and pointing their lights towards them. The respondent identified them ad Hungarian police cars. He further recalls that inside the car there were 2 people wearing blue uniforms. He identifies these people as Hungarian police officers. As soon as they arrived, they reportedly shot 4/5 times with a gun, so the group all ran into the forest to hide. They split up and the respondent found himself alone, with just one friend. At that point, they decided to sleep in the forest, and they planned to go to the nearest police station in the morning and ask for asylum there.

After 15 minutes, though,  two men in uniform – dressed in black with the symbol of the Hungarian police on the arm and the face uncovered – parked their car on the road and flashed them with lights. The respondent and his friend raised their hands but the men started to beat them on the head and body with punches and kicks.

Then, reportedly, they were taken out of the forest where they were hiding and loaded in a vehicle the respondent describes as a hungarian police car; after 10 minutes of driving the officers dropped them off the car in an place that the respondent cannot locate or identify firther,  and made them wait on a secondary street.

Afterwards, they were loaded into 2 different vehicles that the respondent identifies as blue hungarian police van. After 15 minutes, they changed vehicle and were forced to enter a white bus that brought them to the Serbian border, and then to Serbia, close to Horgos border.

Reportedly, they were not taken to any police station, but directly from the forest to Serbia. In the bus together with the respondent and his friend there were people from Morocco, Syria, Afghanistan, India. The respondent reports that the men in uniform that caught them did not take money nor broke their mobile phones. He also declared that he was not able to ask for asylum during the encounter.