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56 images Created 30 Apr 2019

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  • "They (Hungarian police) send dogs on you when you are asleep. This is a photo of my face after it happened. The dog bit my face and hands"- refugee from Pakistan, Adasevci refugee camp, Serbia
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  • "They are very cold people, the Bulgarian police. Even if you have a short time document pass, they still do the same thing. In the centre of Sofia, not at the border, they took everything from us, then they took us to the jungle. They beat us, destroyed our permit, took my money, mobile.. they took everything and then they push us back." Adasevci refugee camp, Serbia.
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  • 'The Hungarian border police struck me with batons and knives'- a refugee from Pakistan at the  Adasevci camp in Serbia recounted. The number of reports pointing to border police using violence on refugees is staggering. Refugees report on being beaten, humiliated and evem tortured.
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  • ‘They come on you when you are sleeping. This is what happened when dogs bit on face and hands. You can see the face. Here is a photo. This happened on the Hungarian border.’ Sid, June 2017.
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  • A refugee from Afghanistan: “The Hungarian police, they do like a Kosher, they take your skin and then they put a hook in it” He showed me a photo of his injuries.  Adasevci refugee camp, Serbia
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  • 'That's the problem.. in Bulgaria the police attack us..This happened with a knife. When they see us, they beat us.' Adasevci, Serbia
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  • Miksaliste aid centre in Belgrade is the city's main support centre where refugees can receive basic medical help, clothes and the first assistance. Many come into the centre exhausted physically and psychologically,  from their horrendoeus journey, anxiety and at times encount of police violence.  I often had to resort to google translate to be able to communicate with refugees. As I asked how was the journey to Belgrade a refugee writes 'Beating'. Belgrade, Serbia
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  • I met M. in AC Krnjaca refugee camp just coming from an hospital. During the night he was trying to cross to Croatia and was beaten,. His arm was fractured. He recounts: ‘I was going to cross into Croatia border coming from Serbia. I had a lot of beating, bones broken. They left me in pain just lying on the floor, like that.’ M., AC Krnjaca refugee camp, Belgrade, Serbia.
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  • 'They sprayed on us- the Hungarian police. It was tear gas. I thought I was dying. I couldn't breath. They beat us. It was so difficult for all of us.’- refugee from Pakistan. Some refugees refuse to register into a camp because it means having to wait for a very long time. Recent regulations have diminished border entry to one person per day (Hungary, Serbia) prioritising women, children and refugees from Syria. This translates a life in a camp for years. The alternative is to risk ones life crossing the border illegally. Horgos refugee camp, Serbia.
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  • "The Hungarian police took my shoes, clothes and mobile phone. They told me to cross the river and had to walk for two days without shoes. It was winter. I arrived in a village in Turkey without clothes." refugee from Pakistan, Adasevci refugee camp, Serbia.
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  • He showed me a scar running through his arm. He says,'this happened when the Bulgarian police saw us.The Bulgarian police attacked us. That's the problem. They beat us. They don't care. We are too scared of them'.
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  • Being pushed back and beaten by the Croatian border police. His foot was injured. He and his friends were trying to cross the border. They got caught and run away. He fell over a log lying on the ground. His leg was still over the log when the police reached him and kicked over the foot with all their strength. He showed me the x-ray that the medical team gave him on his release. G., Sid, Serbia
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  • Accounts point to refugees in Bosnia Hercegovina having experienced widespread atrocious and barbarous violence in the hands of Croatian border police. It seems that one of the most common abuse is to beat refugees on their knees. Many have had their knees smashed. This is photo of a refugee following the aftermath of police violence in which his knees were severely injured. M., Velika Kladusa, Bosnia Hercegovina.
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  • The systematic use of force sees the destruction of any evidence first. Refugees explain that upon been stopped by Croatian police at the borders they are immediately asked to give them their phones and money. They destroy their phones or keep them. Then they beat them savagely. Many have reported been exposed to electric batons, smashed bones and beaten on their knees.
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  • Meisam is in Krnaca refugee camp is Serbia with his family. He confides: ‘ Bulgarian police beat us, they fight they make a lot of problems for refugees. We tried to cross with smugglers before but the police beat us all. They take everything from us.’AC Krnjaca, Serbia.
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  • Yusuf (refugee from Afghanistan), rolls out an x-ray and points to where a bone from his shoulder was broken. The Bulgarian police broke his bone as he attempted to cross the border. Even in extreme pain, he was made to undress and leave all his belongings behind. Then was pushed back without clothes. Sid, Serbia
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  • Argi has escaped from Kobani in Syria with his family after he was tortured by the regime and feared for his life. Unable to cross the border at Idomeni, he and his wife have found a little space to shelter just outside the doors of what once was an operating lift in the disused Hellenikon airport. This is how I met him when I entered the building hiding from the security. Still walking in crutches, he showed me graphic pictures of the violence inflicted on him. Visibly traumatised with his wife pregnant and children, he has not received any assistance ever since they arrived in Hellenikon over two weeks earlier.
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  • ‘I knew I was going to be beaten. A group of Bulgarian youths, maybe 12 of them, wearing black hoods covering their faces, came up to me and asked if I could speak Bulgarian. I knew that the question was to determine my refugee status and to ascertain that I was not able to seek help. They pushed me in the bus shelter so that I ha no escape routes. I was beaten but managed to escape running as fast as I could. When I was given medication at the Red Cross, the police was called and asked me what I wanted them to do. I said that Id did not care that those that beat me would be punished, but I wanted it to stop and protection so that we could go out without fearing for our lives.’ Mohamed, refugee from Afghanistan,Voempa Rampa, Sofia, Bulgaria.
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  • "Bulgarian police here is not like in the rest of Europe. They don't respect you. They don't see us as human. They see us as another creature."  S.,Sofia, Bulgaria, 2018
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  • ‘Border police send dogs on us, they beat us every time I tried to cross the border. One time, I lost the group of friends I was with and I was three nights and three days alone in the jungle. I was scared and I also became ill. I went back to the Bulgarian border police and I asked them to help me. They didn’t, they beat him and then sent him to Busmantsi detention centre.’ Voenna Rampa, Bulgaria.
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  • ‘I heard people behind me shouting “Malaka” [wanker] and immediately after someone started to slapping me. I asked ‘Why?’ but they just carried on attacking me, throwing me back and forth like a football ball. Then I saw a knife been taken out and I was knifed. I collapsed. I was left for dead on the pavement before the police was called six hours later. The police station was 2 minutes away.’Sila, asylum seeker from Guinea, Athens, Greece.
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  • An Afghani boy, who later helped me to enter the disused Ellinikon airport unnoticed, was very keen that I would see with my own eyes the conditions of the space and report on it. Among those I have spoken to, many have asked that I would highlight and report and 'let the world know of their bad conditions'.
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  • ‘Bulgarian borders police send their dogs on us, they beat us.. once time he tried to go to the border but he lost his friends in the jungle. For two days he was without food and water and he was ill. He decided to go back and went to the Bulgarian border police. They beat him and did not help him to go to Sofia even if he told them he was sick. He was then put in a detention centre.’
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  • "Bulgarian police here is not like in the rest of Europe. They don't respect you. They don't see us as human. They see us as another creature. I would like to go to the UK as I have been told people are treated better." Voenna  S.,Sofia, Bulgaria, 2018
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  • I was not given permission to enter the refugee camps in Bulgaria, even if I followed all the procedures adequately. The State Agency for Refugees at the Ministerial Council refused and even demanded that I should go to see them. I thought of a way around this, so I asked an independent lawyer if he could help by asking refugees inside the centre that they would have liked to share their experiences to meet me outside. This is one of the refugees that came to meet me outside Voenna Rampa refugee centre in Sofia. He shared: 'I came from Turkey, crossed the border. I was taken into a closed camp, Busmantsi, which is like a jail. I was there for one month. Then I went to Harmanly, a town near the border of Turkey (it has a refugee centre) and after I tried to enter Serbia. On the border Bulgaria/Serbia I was caught by the Bulgarian police and put in jail for three months. The police beat me- that is a normal thing as they beat everyone that try to cross the border.' - refugee from Afghanistan, outside Voenna Rampa refugee centre, Sofia, Bulgaria
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  • Amir is one of the many refugees from Sudan in a limbo in Greece. Without a permit, he has no rights to go,look for work or to receive housing assistance. He has been in a detention camp for months and  he is constantly afraid of being randomly stopped by the police and taken to custody or back to detention.
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  • ‘I was in the jungle for 5 days. When I tried to enter Bulgaria, I was pushed back. Some people died in the jungle because of no food, water and cold weather. I walked for 12 hours. If you don’t have money for an agent you are stuck. The agent is the only choice but they don't care for you.’ Karim, Sofia, Bulgaria.
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  • Confinement and control imposed on refugees goes beyond the tightened border security. Unwanted, refugee and asylum seekers are kept in confined areas by visible and invisible layers of control created by a web of security and bureaucracy adapted by most governments in Europe. Unfortunately, these include children. Ellinikon, Greece
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  • Meisy is receiving medical treatment for clinical depression following repeated hate crime abuses. In one incident, Meisy had just got off from a train when a woman began shouting at her and holding her tightly. No one came to her assistance, whilst the woman made a call to Golden Dawn members to summon them to the station as she was holding someone black to be beaten up. Meisy called her husband and the police. The police never arrived. Her husband frantically went to the police station and demanded that they would go with him to the station. By then, the woman had escaped. She was found later by the police but was never convicted.
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  • Inside Lavrion refugee camp, where  refugees from Syria are left in oblivion and at their own devises.
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  • Refugees from Africa find it harder to prove their need for asylum. It leaves them to fend off for themselves. Without legal assistance, often they escape the legal system altogether putting themselves in further danger of exploitation. Without work, money and a place to stay, many African refugees resort to live in city parks or anywhere that can fend them. The Sudanese refugee centre in Athens is an informal space for the African refugees.  Amir from Sudan says  ‘it is a safe haven for the African communities as being away from the street protects them from being a target of hate crimes’. Amir, Athens.
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  • Lavrion refugee camp.
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  • Lavrion camp in Greece operates under the auspices of the United Nations. Most of the occupants are Kurdish and Syrians, many are children.
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  • The conditions inside Lavrion camp are rather stark. Families and children occupy communal rooms. In the corridors, you can find a cooker for everyone to use. Many of the occupants are families with children.
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  • Many of the occupants in the camp of Lavrion are children.  A large number of families have come from Syria through Turkey. Some stayed in Turkey, however the conditions were so stark that they were compelled to leave again. As young as 12 years old worked in textile factories in Turkey.  One refugee recounts: ‘we were made to work for 14 hours a day and not allowed to sit down’. Lavrion, Greece
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  • Glass, brick and the remains of what once was a factory in a remote area close to the Croatia border. This is the home of a group of refugees, pushed back over and over, but resilient in trying again. Police raids are frequent. They are hungry, left with nothing but their hope to cross the border and one day succeed. - Border Serbia/Croatia
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  • "We have tried to cross the border many times and we have been pushed back. One time police with masks on, find us. We were inside a van. They beat the driver. Then they open the door of the van and punched me. I heard many stories of violence from the police. This was my first time." - Belgrade refugee camp.
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  • I met O. (name undisclosed) from Nigeria at the RO.DO.PA centre, once a Residence Hotel in Battipaglia, south of Italy. The centre shelters mostly refugees from Africa. Those that have shared their experiences have recounted acts of extreme torture and segregation in Libya, where many have taken a boat from to reach Italy. O. recounted that being in Lybia was something indescribable. In fact, he said if I wanted to know, I should go there. There are no words that can describe that hell. O. -Ro.do.pa. centre, Battipaglia, near Salerno, south of Italy.
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  • "I have been in prison many times because of no paper. Police stops me. takes me to the police station and I am left there without any explanation, sometimes for hours. If I would ask for some food or water, they would laugh at me." S. E.Y., Athens, Greece.
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  • "I escaped the city of Afrin near Kobani. I had to leave because of fear of being attacked. " M., Lavrion.
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  • Bawafa has been separated by his mum and sister in Turkey. In Belgrade now, recounts the endless tries to cross the border, beatings and the painful separation from his mother and sister. Recounting the events that led to his separation and sharing his wish to be reunited, he silently cries.- Bawafa, refugee from Afghanistan, Belgrade, Serbia.
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  • "We were caught by the Bulgarian police. They beat us cruelly, they don’t look where they are beating, on which part of the body and I was beaten on my knee and my knee cup was busted<br />
I still have a problem in my knee, I feel pain, cannot walk normally. I was taken to a close camp, then to an open camp.<br />
I spent 40 days in the closed camp. They treat us and think of us as animals.They abuse us in the camp. It is really a bad situation for refugees in the camp in Bulgaria." M. refugee from Pakistan, Adasevci, Serbia.
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  • Zahid was finger printed in Hungary which has left him in a very vulnerable situation. He cannot go to the Questura (police headquarters) because he would be deported and cannot receive any assistance for the same reason. He lives in an abandoned train carriage at the moment. He has been advised to stay put and try to survive for the next months as the rule on his first entry in Hungary will be removed after two years.
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  • The Oycha Kupel refugee centre is situated by the Bulgarian University, yet the two worlds couldn't be more apart. I was not allowed entry into any of the refugee centres whilst in Bulgaria and even talking with refugees outside the centres has been difficult. Taking photographs was a challenge. The psychological hardship of living in a confined space, without the prospect of anything different is a form of violence. The refugee centre fenced in, security in place, boxed like architecture form part of this narrative of seclusion. I shot this picture moments before security demanded my documents and had already called the police. I refused, left ...for that day. Oycha Kupel refugee centre, Sofia, Bulgaria.
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  • O. is in Krnaca refugee camp in Serbia with her family. She and her husband Meisam say:‘Bulgarian police beat us, they fight they make a lot of problems for refugees. We tried to cross with smugglers before but the police beat us all. They take everything from us.’AC Krnjaca, Serbia.
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  • The choice is between register in a refugee camp and wait in a limbo for your turn to cross a border (usually months and years)  or avoid being registered and hide. I travelled along the border of Serbia and Croatia, where many refugees live in disused and abandoned structures or hiding in wood areas. They keep on moving for fear of being caught by police. The tend to stay as close as possible to a border and during the nights they try to cross. Border Serbia/Croatia.
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  • "Border police is a problem. (Hungary) They tie my hands and then they spray. I fell asleep. I slept for 4 hours and when I woke up I was in Serbia. I don't know how." Imran, refugee from Afghanistan, Borgos, Serbia.
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  • Argi is a victim of torture. He escaped from Syria with his family and has been left stranded in Greece.
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  • 'Arbitrary stop and search is very common  particularly if you are black. If you cannot show a permit to stay you are taken to the police station or you end up back in a refugee detention centre where initially you came from' H.
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  • Ellenikon, former Athens airport hosts hundreds of refugees in cramped conditions. In the days that I visited the facility many have complained of lack of water, crammed conditions and scarce food. Ellenikon, Greece.
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  • Bureaucratic violence shows in a codified symbolism. I think once assimilated in the fabric of society, it sinks in as a norm. The 'official' place of 'shelter'for refugees and asylum seekers seems to have fences, walls, securities, armed police etc.. the message points to 'these are dangerous people'. Sadly, we have normalised these messages. Ellinikon, Greece
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  • Refugees are often left to fend off for themselves. Without work, money and a place to stay, they  resort to live in city parks. Over time, this is unsustainable and some resort to squatting empty places. In this space, a relic house in Athens, over 30 people are crammed to sleep during the nights and many more use it during the day.
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  • She made it through the perilous journey on a boat. Without papers,she is left stranded.
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  • Melak, a refugee from Afrin in Syria. She escaped with her five children after her house was destroyed by bombing. When I met her, she had been in Piraeus for four weeks, and she was among the 'lucky few' to have a tent on a terrain patch outside Terminal 3.  When I walked up to her, the very first thing that she did was to hug me. Melak invited me into her tent every time I was in Piraeus.  Without running water and with just a piece of bread to feed herself and her five children each day, she kept a brave face. Piraeus, Athens, Greece
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