On the 20th of October two people from Morocco crossed the Hungarian-Serbian border fence. They walked for about 4 hours in the “jungle” (term used by people-on-the-move to describe forested areas) during the night, until they were apprehended by a group of 5 people that they refer to as “Hungarian soldiers“, reportedly 4 men and 1 woman, who stopped them and pushed them on the ground.

The respondents report that the “soldiers” kicked them, beat them with batons and pushed their boots on their heads; moreover, they recall that pepper spray was used against them. The respondents also report that the officers smashed their phones, stole their food and money from their backpacks and forced them to undress there, outside in the cold and in the dark. Then, they reportedly left them there on the ground for five hours, undressed, guarding them.

“They left us in underwear, laying on the ground for five hours, beating us when they liked it and it was really really cold. They never gave us our clothes back”.

One of the respondents reports that sometimes new people that he describes as “soldiers” were arriving and were beating them again.

After what was described as 5 hours, they were loaded in a car and were reportedly driven for 4 hours until they reached the official Horgos border crossing point. The respondents report that, here, photos of them were taken by the officers. In the end, they were pushed back with other 6 people, 8 in total. After that, they returned to the informal settlement where they are living in Serbia, walking for three hours.