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Yellow vests against police violence!

volunteer
(Opatovac, Croatia, September 2015)

By welcome to europe (w2eu)

„It is a duty of this international citizenship to always confront the eyes and ears of governments with the human suffering for which it cannot truthfully be denied that they bear responsibility.“ [1]

All of us have played an important role within all the last weeks and months in keeping the “corridor” open. It was us who have been on the side of the people when they had been waiting in the rainy nights, when procedures slowed down. We come from various backgrounds, but what we all shared is the will to get active and to welcome those who are travelling. But now the empire strikes back: Since 19th of November parallel procedures of selection started at the borders to Macedonia, Croatia and Slovenia.

From Welcome to Europe we have accompanied struggles for freedom of movement be it on the islands of arrivals, be it around detention camps or at the ferry ports to exit Greece, be it for those on the move against the Dublin-regulation when they escaped for example from Hungary. What we learned is that the success of every protest, every hungerstrike, every collective move depends on visibility and people who take a stand on the side of the protestors.

We are doing this kind of support since some years and we know out of this experience: Especially after the dynamics created „in the long summer of migration“ it is quite for sure, that there will be uprisings the next days. Can someone really believe, that the people will go back or „get up in smoke“? There are already the first pictures from protests at the Macedonian border.
Yellow vests against police violence! weiterlesen →

Call Out Info Point Šid

Mobile Info Point Sid

Dear everyone,

since the beginning of November there has been a mobile info point at the petrol station in Adaševci close to Šid, at the border from Serbia to Croatia. We have to leave Šid this Wedenesday, the 25th, but we are looking for people who want to continue with this in the next weeks.

What did we do?

We handed out information leaflets about the Balkan route in English, Arabic, Farsi, Pashtu and Urdu. We also set up a charging station for mobile phones run by car batteries and set up a free wifi hotspot. And of course we answered questions and had conversations together.
Call Out Info Point Šid weiterlesen →

Urgent Update

Macedonia, Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia are separating migrants due to their (supposed) nationalities

by live.w2eu.info

Since yesterday the states of Macedonia, Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia are separating migrants due to their (supposed) nationalities by racial profiling. Obviously the IOM and UNHCR are collaborating with the governments in this issue.

The goal of the governments is to prevent those from entering their countries, who are not of (supposedly) Syrian, Iraqi and Afghan origin and to weaken the power of the migration movement. It is not clear what will happen now to those who are separated and prevented from entrance. It is not recommended to sign any paper, which you cannot read. Always ask for translation into your language and ask what are the consequences of signing.

There were reports from the Greek-/Macedonian border, that people who had lost their Greek registration papers had to show their ID to enter into Macedonia. This can be very difficult and problematic, so keep an eye on your Greek papers.

We demand to immediately put an end to the practice of racial profiling and to guarantee freedom of movement for everybody!

Report by Reuters UK: Serbia and Macedonia limiting migrant passage to Syrians, Iraqis and Afghans only

serbian/macedonian border

Report from Preševo
10.-12. November 2015

This is a report about the last days in Preševo. This report is a report about inhuman conditions, failing NGO’s and police violence.
According to the information from the Danish Refugee Council (the only NGO that seems to be working somehow), both the 10th and the 11th of November, 10.000-11.000 refugees and migrants reached Preševo. We did not get the chance to estimate ourselves the number, as the queuing situation itself demanded our total attention, but the numbers correspond to those the activists in Ilomeni collected.
serbian/macedonian border weiterlesen →

Bulgarian/Serbian border

Report from Dimitrovgrad by
Bordermonitoring Bulgaria

Most of the refugees, crossing via Bulgaria, arrive in Dimitrovgrad, a little town, that is 4 km from the Serbian-Bulgarian Border and 60m away from Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria. They have to register at a camp, that is managed by the Serbian border police. Registered people have to leave the country within three days. Some are walking days before they finally arrive the police station. Taxi Drivers are waiting in front and offer a ride to Belgrade for 200 Euro. Usually they buy a bus ticket to Belgrade for 25 Euro, money that is sometimes provided by volunteers. The volunteers camp is located in the same area as the police station with the tent of the red cross and the presence of the UNHCR. At the end of the working day, the representation of the UNHCR and the Red Cross closed before 4 pm.
read the full report

Macedonia

Following the border closing and the subsequent border opening in the Republic of Macedonia in August, the fight-wing governemnt declared a state of emergency. A new camp was built in Gevgelija (southern Macedonia), far from the city so as to prevent any interaction beween the locals and refugees. Ever since, the reufgees can only be seen on 2 locations in Macedonia:

– refugee point A (camp in Gevgelija, southern Macedonia)
– refugee point B (camp in Tabanovce, northern Macedonia)

Of course these camps are not really camps but just transit tents and pitiful IKEA structures.There are zero accommodation facilities. There are stones, mud, a lot of barefoot children sleeping on the ground. And unspeakable shame. But also, a lot of strength and resistance, both by refugees and volunteers.
The Gevgelja camp has ever since been fenced and the freedom of movement of refugees has been restricted. This is a violation of the refugee legislation in Macedonia, whereby obtaining the registration documents allows you to freely travel in the country for 3 days. In practice, what is happening is that:
Macedonia weiterlesen →

Slovenian/croatian border (11am)

Report from Dobova

refugees and migrants, who had to cross by feet the border last two days are still in camps and step by step will be transportated by trains in direction of Austria. But yesterday a first test happened with 3 trains and probably from today on it will be the new system: refugees are transported directly by train from croatia/opatovac to the trainstation in Dobova in Slovenia. Then they change directly into another train to Sentilj/Spielfeld at the slovenian Austrian border. In moment volunteers have access to the refugees also in and near the trainstation, but we will see it will go in next days…

In general a good step to facilitate the travelling in the corridor and to reduce the suffering on the route. And for sure another small success of the still powerful social movement of refugees, who also several times last days protested again and demanding their freedom of movement against a strange militarisation in this strange camp and registration system.

What is needed in Bobova? Read here, also more informations about other spots