“and at this time I really thought my life would end”
The respondent began his crossing about 20km from the border crossing at Ipsala. Here, he was attacked by unidentified ‘thieves’, robbed of his bags, phones and money. There were eleven people with the respondent, all men. They made a trip across the river, arriving at a small island. There were approximately 70 people on the island, Pakistanis and Algerians. They made trips across the river via a small boat, with a capacity for 6 people. His group had to make two trips as there were eleven of them. The respondent claims that he heard the ‘coast guards' speaking in German when their boat was stopped after crossing the river into Greece. The respondent described the ‘coast guards’ as follows; ‘their faces are hidden and they have military pants and they have guns and long sticks to beat people and they don’t know exactly who they are but they think they are nato’
The respondent stated that a pregnant woman on the Greek side of the border was beaten by the ‘coast guards’ in a forest where she had gone to relieve herself. There were witnesses to the beating who called the Greek police and the woman was taken to hospital. The respondent stated that people had tried multiple times to successfully cross into Greece but were consistently pushed back at the border. The respondent described marks of beatings on others in the groups he was with ‘they had bruises everywhere and had bruises on the legs and the arms both men and women had wounds and one has one so impressive because it was like a bubble that was ready to explode’. The respondent also stated that at one point they think someone called the police one them because ‘they were ready for all of them and at this time i really thought my life would end’