"From every side we are just pushed back"

A group of around 150 people on the move living in Velika Kladuša, mostly consisting of families from Afghanistan, gathered for a protest in order to protest for freedom of movement into the EU and a life in dignity.

Leaving the space in Kladuša where the protesting people were living, two police cars stopped and four Bosnian policemen approached the group, asking where they were going. The respondent, a 16-year-old woman from Afghanistan, describes that she replied, "You will see where we are going." She describes in our interview that, "We wanted to go to the main border, to Croatia, so that the Croatian people can see us."

The two police cars followed the protest, and as they came closer to the border with Croatia, a big white border police van blocked the road, with four Bosnian border police officers and two police dogs on leashes in front of it. One of the officers told the respondent they could go to the border in smaller groups, but not as a whole protest:
"It's a shame for our country to see all of you at the border. You cannot do whatever you want," one border policeman told her.

Due to the rising number of police officers, the protesting group turned around and tried another road towards the border. A few minutes later, the protest was stopped again in front of a small bridge. Around six police cars were present by then.

A policeman started pushing a mid-30s man from Afghanistan, who had a baby in his arms, 2–3 times, and the man eventually fell to the ground with his baby and nearly into a river. The respondent describes the man as "having nervous problems", and some people from the protest helped him up again.

The respondent remembers that many people told the police in English, "This is a peaceful protest, we will not do anything and don't have any problem with you. We just want to go there [to the border]." But the officers didn't let the protesting people pass further on that road.
"Go back in the city if you want to demonstrate. [...] If you don't stop, we will bring you to Sarajevo," the police replied.

One policeman addressed the respondent directly and told her, "Tell your people to go back! Maybe they will listen to you. You go first!" The respondent replied to him:
"No, I will not go, I will stay here. Even I don't want to listen to you—how should I tell my people to go back? I don't want to go back."

The policeman pushed the respondent, repeating to her that she should return and asking who the leader of the protest was. She replied, "There is no leader, everyone is here for themselves. So we don't have any leader." The respondent describes that this seemed to have made him even more angry.

In the meantime, more people were pushed by police officers with hands and police batons, including pregnant women and children. This is why the protesting group decided to follow the police orders and turn around.

As the protesting group was convinced they could continue their protest in the city center, they tried to walk on a road towards the center but eventually got stopped by the police again and were told to end their protest. The protest therefore returned to the place where the protesting people were living.

On the way back, two policemen approached the respondent, asking whether she took any videos of the protest, which she denied. After returning to their living space, the respondent describes that several police cars were patrolling around the area during the evening and beginning of the night.

Once again, policemen threatened people from the former protest that if they'd protest again, the police would evict their place and bring everyone into camps. The respondent describes further that due to this uncertainty and intimidation, the group didn't continue the protest any further.

"We wanted to stay at the border until they make a decision for us. Because we are really tired of being here. And the weather is getting cold, so people don't know what to do. From every side we are just pushed back," she explains in the interview.