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Twelve Men Apprehended by Hungarian Police, Beaten and Pushed Back to Serbia

Date & Time 2021-03-12
Location Near the Horgos-Roeszke border crossing
Reported by No Name Kitchen
Coordinates 46.17585084, 19.97849328
Pushback from Hungary
Pushback to Serbia
Taken to a police station yes
Minors involved no
WLTI* involved no
Men involved yes
Age 15 - 17
Group size 12
Countries of origin Afghanistan
Treatment at police station or other place of detention
Overall number of policemen and policewomen involved 11
Violence used beating (with batons/hands/other), kicking, insulting, pepper spray, destruction of personal belongings, theft of personal belongings
Police involved 8 Hungarian policemen

In the evening of Thursday, December 3, the respondent and eleven other Afghan men entered Hungary from Serbia near the Roeszke-Horgos border crossing. After thirty minutes, they were apprehended by eight Hungarian officers which the respondent identified as police officers. “Why did you come to Hungary? You can’t come here! You are a problem for us!” they shouted at the young men. They forced them to sit in the rain for an hour before taking them to a small police station at the border.

“They beat us very badly. They hit us with their guns,” said the respondent. “They did very bad things to us. One of my friends was on the ground, and they kicked him. They hit us with everything. They slapped us.”

The policemen also humiliated the PoMs, offering the respondent a cigarette doused in pepper spray to see if he would try to smoke it. In the station, there was a commander and two female officers who laughed at the men as the beatings were administered.

“The Hungarian police is very bad, very bad. They took our friend’s iPhone X and broke another friend’s phone.”

Late in the evening, they pushed the men back to Serbia at the official Roeszke-Horgos border crossing.

“What would we do if our country had peace?” asked the respondent. “We wouldn’t come here. But we don’t have any choice.”