“They were drunk… three or four policemen were walking on us in opposite directions”

This series of time-stamped posts are from interviews conducted on the 25th of February with various victims of Hungarian police brutality, during two separate crossing attempts on consecutive nights. They were interviewed and recorded on video by a journalist we have been collaborating with, Jaime Alekos, with the support of a translator who wishes to remain anonymous.

Interviewee: 18 year old from Pakistan [crossed into Hungary the night of 22 February, 2017]

07:38 – How did you go from Belgrade to the border three days ago?
07:47 – When we left Belgrade we were 30 or 35 here. When we arrived to Subotica, there were more people there. In total, we were 70 or 75 people. We crossed the border and the police arrested us.

08:13 – What did the police say or did to you when they arrested you?
08:18 – When they surrounded us they told us to sit. We sat and they told us to put our head between our legs, looking to the floor. They started shouting who is the boss, who is the boss. Nobody answered. There were around 50 or 60 policemen, countless. After that, they started beating us, all of them were beating us, in a very bad way that is inexplicable, like doomsday. Continue reading ““They were drunk… three or four policemen were walking on us in opposite directions””

“They crossed the border, came into Serbian soil and beat us again”

This series of time-stamped posts are from interviews conducted on the 25th of February with various victims of Hungarian police brutality, during two separate crossing attempts on consecutive nights. They were interviewed and recorded on video by a journalist we have been collaborating with, Jaime Alekos, with the support of a translator who wishes to remain anonymous.

Interviewee: 20 years old from Pakistan [crossed into Hungary the night of 22 February, 2017]

13:02 – How many people were in your group the last time you tried to cross the border?
13:09 – We went from here to Subotica by train. We were about 70 people. From Subotica we took a bus to Horgos. From Horgos the border was one hour away. It was dark when we crossed into Hungary. We were running 20 or 25 minutes. Then the police caught us. And their behaviour with us was very cruel.

13:40 – Why do you say that they were drunk?
13:42 – They had alcohol in their hands, they threw alcohol at us and they were talking nonsense. Continue reading ““They crossed the border, came into Serbian soil and beat us again””

“They didn’t care if they were children or adults. They were beating us very strong”

This series of time-stamped posts are from interviews conducted on the 25th of February with various victims of Hungarian police brutality, during two separate crossing attempts on consecutive nights. They were interviewed and recorded on video by a journalist we have been collaborating with, Jaime Alekos, with the support of a translator who wishes to remain anonymous.

Interviewee: 20 years old from Pakistan [crossed into Hungary the night of the 22 February, 2017]

17:53 – Did you try to cross into Hungary three days ago?
17:57 – Yes, we crossed the fence and ran for about 10-20 minutes, we were about 70 people, and suddenly the police surrounded us, from the front and the back, and started beating us, they didn’t care if they were children or adults. They were beating us very strong, and from the point where we were arrested until back to the fence they beat us again and again until we reached the fence. On the way, they told us to squat with the head between the legs for one hour and they sprayed us. From there, when they brought us to the fence, they took our cellphones and broke them, then they told us to lay down on the ground and they walked on us. Continue reading ““They didn’t care if they were children or adults. They were beating us very strong””