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Pushed back by Croatian authorities and attacked by local Serbs

Date & Time 2019-07-26
Location Batrovci border crossing
Reported by No Name Kitchen
Coordinates 45.04714031, 19.10345736
Pushback from Croatia
Pushback to Serbia
Taken to a police station no
Minors involved no
WLTI* involved no
Men involved yes
Age 18 - 35
Group size 5
Countries of origin Algeria
Treatment at police station or other place of detention
Overall number of policemen and policewomen involved 5
Violence used no violence used
Police involved

On Friday, July 26th a group of 5 young men crossed the Croatia-Serbian border on foot. After a day of walking in Croatia, the five men were stopped and detained by a passing police car. Shortly after two police vans arrived and the group of five men were driven back to the Croatian-Serbian border crossing of Batrovci. The five men told the police officers that they were seeking asylum to which the police laughed and suggested that they were only able to give asylum in the back of their police van. The police kicked and shoved them towards the border crossing and told them not to return.

After crossing back into Serbia, the group of 5 men then sought refuge in a nearby abandoned building where they hoped to spend the evening. In the evening a group of 10 men aged 20-25 came and attacked them with baseball bats and wooden poles. The group attacked all five guys and beat them to the floor where the Alegrias were forced to huddle into a ball to protect their heads and body. They managed to flee the attack by jumping through a small window in the house and ran barefoot away from their attackers. They spent the night sleeping in the jungle.  During the attack, the group of men took two phones, two powers banks and the Algerians’ jackets.

The next day, at 10 am, an old man pulled over next to the group in a golf car. The man told them to leave their location and not to come back. The group of 5 Algerians apologized but before they had a chance to leave the old man told them that he was going to phone a gang of guys who beat up migrants to come and make them leave.

The leg of respondent “A” after the attack by local residents following his push-back
Wounds on the body of respondent “A” after the attack by local residents following his push-back
The back of respondent “A” after the attack by local residents following his push-back
The back of respondent “B” after the attack by local residents following his push-back
Respondent “B” after the attack by local residents following his push-back