Hunger, cold hit migrants' morale as they wait to slip through sealed borders

Record ID: 449220

  • Title: Hunger, cold hit migrants' morale as they wait to slip through sealed borders
  • Date: 16th March 2017
  • Summary: BELGRADE, SERBIA (MARCH 16, 2017) (REUTERS) LINE OF MIGRANTS IN BELGRADE ABANDONED WAREHOUSE COMPLEX WAITING FOR A WARM MEAL HANDED OUT BY VOLUNTEERS VOLUNTEERS HANDING OUT MEALS TO MIGRANTS MIGRANTS AND VOLUNTEERS CHOPPING WOOD FOR BONFIRE IN ABANDONED WAREHOUSE COMPLEX WOOD LOGS PACKED INTO CAR TIRE VOLUNTEER SPLITTING LOGS LOGS PACKED INTO CAR TIRE FOR CHOPPING (SOUNDBITE) (English) VOLUNTEER FROM PORTUGAL, NUNO MIGUEL, SAYING: "One month ago, two months ago, too much cold, toxic smoke inside, a lot of people. Then people start to decrease and now population is increasing again and there's another kind of a problem. There are a lot of volunteers helping them, with good wood, with the food, but now the problem is their minds. They're getting very depressions, the waiting is … they're starting to see that they can't manage to pass the borders." MIGRANTS CARRYING LOGS THROUGH ABANDONED WAREHOUSE COMPLEX (SOUNDBITE) (English) VOLUNTEER FROM PORTUGAL, NUNO MIGUEL, SAYING: "Their minds are getting very, very problematic. We're seeing more cases of stress, big depressions, fights between them because of nothing, small things… I think the main problem is that, their minds. They're not doing nothing all day, they keep waiting, waiting, waiting their time to go to the border." MIGRANTS IN ABANDONED WAREHOUSE COMPLEX WALKING THROUGH SMOKE FROM GARBAGE BURNING IN CONTAINER MIGRANT WALKING FROM SUNLIGHT INTO DARK ABANDONED WAREHOUSE INTERIOR OF WAREHOUSE MIGRANTS INSIDE ABANDONED WAREHOUSE CAMPING TENTS AND IMPROVISED COTS IN WAREHOUSE MIGRANTS TALKING WHILE WARMING THEMSELVES NEAR FURNACE MIGRANTS SITTING NEXT TO FIRE INSIDE WAREHOUSE NEAR HUNGARIAN BORDER, BETWEEN HORGOS AND SUBOTICA, SERBIA (MARCH 16, 2017) (REUTERS) MIGRANTS CARRYING BAGS WITH GROCERIES ALONG RAILROAD TRACKS NEAR SERBIAN BORDER WITH HUNGARY MIGRANTS WALKING THROUGH FOREST IN BORDER ZONE MIGRANTS IN FOREST MAKESHIFT MIGRANT CAMP IN FOREST NEAR SERBIAN BORDER WITH HUNGARY MIGRANT POURING WATER FOR ANOTHER TO WASH YOUNG MIGRANT WASHING MOUTH WITH WATER FROM CANISTER PLASTIC RAZOR ON ROCK YOUNG MIGRANT COMBING HIS HAIR IN FOREST MIGRANT LOOKING AT HIMSELF IN FRAGMENTED MIRROR GROUP OF MIGRANTS UNDER A MAKESHIFT COVER IN FOREST CAMP MIGRANT DIPPING LADLE INTO POT ON FIRE MIGRANT EATING BREAD (SOUNDBITE) (English) MIGRANT FROM PAKISTAN, SHADEED, SAYING: "Sometimes they capture us, sometimes some people run from them and they put dogs on it. Then they capture peoples and after that first of all they take their phones and break their phones, because peoples use map or something. Ok. And after that they ask us (to) lay down, and then they start… Sometimes three hours they beat, sometimes four hours. Women, men, police all beating." SHADEED'S HANDS (SOUNDBITE) (English) MIGRANT FROM PAKISTAN, SHADEED, SAYING: "If they don't want to open the border, they need to go anywhere and listen the voice of the people and the people who are really in problem, the people who really want to go, they take them forward and take their interviews and check their problems and then they can see ... (unintelligible)." MIGRANTS ON RAILROAD TRACK NEAR SERBIA-HUNGARY BORDER MIGRANTS WALKING AWAY ALONG TRACK
  • Embargoed: 30th March 2017 19:55
  • Keywords: Serbia stranded migrants EU-Turkey deal influx asylum
  • Location: BELGRADE, SERBIA/ NEAR HUNGARIAN BORDER, BETWEEN HORGOS AND SUBOTICA, SERBIA
  • City: BELGRADE, SERBIA/ NEAR HUNGARIAN BORDER, BETWEEN HORGOS AND SUBOTICA, SERBIA
  • Country: Serbia
  • Topics: Asylum/Immigration/Refugees,Government/Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA001687M0QV
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: The long wait of migrants stranded in Serbia to sneak across Hungary's fortified border and fearsome police patrols, stretching from the autumn, over a bitterly cold winter to early spring, is beginning to take its toll on the people's morale and psyche, an aid volunteer in Belgrade told Reuters on Thursday (March 16).
    On the anniversary of the controversial EU-Turkey deal, forged to keep migrants and refugees out of Europe, the outlook seems to get bleaker for nearly 8,000 people stuck in Serbia, with around a quarter of those being counted outside official camps.
    Balkan countries sealed their borders to migrants before the agreement, with Hungary reputedly applying the harshest measures to keep trespassers out. Last week the Doctors Without Borders accused Hungarian authorities of beating migrants before pushing them back to Serbia and even letting patrol dogs attack them.
    At the largest informal camp, in Belgrade's abandoned railroad warehouse complex, incidents of severe depression and aggression are becoming more frequent among some 2,000 residents, mostly young Pakistanis and Afghans, even though conditions have improved since the winter freeze, Portuguese volunteer Nuno Miguel told Reuters.
    Migrants also camp outside official centres, camping in the forest along the fenced-off border and wait for a chance to sneak past the razor wire, Hungarian police and their dogs.
    One of the veterans at the forest, Shadeed from Pakistan, tried to cross five times in the three months he has lived rough, in the nature between Horgos and Subotica.
    Like many others, he says that he survived abuse at hands of Hungarian police, but refuses to try for a place in Serbian official camps, fearing an expulsion, and vows to keep on trying to reach a better life in Europe in spite of intimidating odds.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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