Hungary/Serbia/Croatia/Austria/Slovenia

Update from No Border Serbia:

Dear brothers and sisters,                                                                                                  here are some updates about the current situation (03.10.2015), these are independent information from activists and refugees from the terrain. Please keep in mind, that everything is changing quickly, so there is no guarantee that these information will be valid for longer time.

Shortly about the general situation                                                                  

As an outcome of recent changes, and  increased  number of people passing this way, there is now a “humanitarian corridor” organized by governments, leading from Greece, Macedonia, Serbia, into Croatia and further to Hungary and  hopefully your preferred destination. The police in cooperation with humanitarian organisations (Red cross, UNHCR ) are controlling and managing the new route. It often means waiting for hours in lines for crossing the border, or to enter a registration camp, or waiting for organized transport, so humiliating conditions, but still it seems people arrive to their destination in shorter time than before.

To Hungary from Serbia                                                                                                      The north border between Serbia and Hungary (area of Subotica, Horgoš border crossing) became less passable. There is information that people who cross directly from Serbia to Hungary are going under full procedure of asylum and their fingerprints are taken. Besides, because of the new law, which criminalizes »illegal« border crossing, you might face harsh repression. It seems better to avoid crossing from Serbia directly to Hungary, but instead to go through Croatia, where the »corridor« is leading currently.

The route Serbia-Croatia-Hungary                                                                             The biggest number of crossings from Serbia to Croatia are near Šid (Bapska border crossing). After crossing the border, you will be brought (by buses or police vans) to a camp (Opatovac, 15km from the Serbian border) where they register you (name and picture, no fingerprints). After the registration (it should not last more than 24h)  they will take you by buses or trains towards the Hungarian border. The trip will take you about 5 hours. Be careful, maybe in the hurry they will separate families. Be persistent not to lose your family members. After entering  Hungary (people are transferred from the border to Szentgotthard and Hegyeshalom open camps, on the border with Austria. As far as we know, Hungarian police in the last 10 days did not take fingerprint from people entering over Croatia.

IMPORTANT! Hungary is building a fence on the Croatian border too. If you want to travel by your own, use the ways where is no fence. It’s not recommended to touch the fence, or to go under it, according to the new law of Hungary, it’s a criminal act and you can end up in prison.

Slovenia                                                                                                                                         At the moment, the large governments-organised »corridor« is NOT going through Slovenia. If Hungary closes its borders and the route changes, it is likely the buses will drive people to Slovenia – but for now it seems better (quicker, cheaper, safer and fingerprint-free) to use the »corridor«. If you arrive individually at the Slovenian border, we are not sure what might happen. If you plan to travel through Slovenia the best is to contact the independent solidarity group (see contacts below) and inform them that you are at the border and plan to enter, so they can monitoring how will the authorities act with your group.

Austria                                                                                                                                      Most people are brought via HU to Hegyeshalom, where you will walk to the Austrian side. In Austria you will get registered (no digital fingerprints so far) and they will take you to a different location. If you are lucky, you might be taken close to the German border, otherwise you need to make the trip by yourself. So far, crossing into GER is possible at the different border points (Salzburg, Tyrol, Upper Austria). Recent days showed that GER police registers people but there were also some possibilities to continue the journey by oneself if one does not want to stay in their camps. Relations between GER and AUT grow more tense each day. As long as Germany keeps their borders open,  Austria will probably do the same.

Please be aware that everything is changing all the time. We would be happy to get updates from you, of course in case you have time and energy for it. Sharing your personal experience about changes and other useful information can be precious for the people who will travel the same way.

 Contacts:

In Serbia                                                                                                                                      No border collective> info number: 00381616450529 (viber and what’s up), mail: noborderserbia@riseup.net

In Croatia                                                                                                                                    info number: 00385998458911, mail: noborderzagreb@riseup.net

In Slovenia                                                                                                                                 info number : 00386 30 321 843 (viber and what’s up, but not online all the time, better to send a message and people will try to call you back), mail:  frontabrezmeja@gmail.com

Welcome to Europe network > Independent information for refugees and migrants, Web page: www.w2eu.info, mail:                       w2eu_info@yahoo.com  //  w2eu@hotmail.com

 If you lost your child(ren) there is an EU emergency number: 116000.  If you are looking for your relatives: +43 591 331 033 33

We wish you a safe journey. Freedom of movement and right to travel for all! Down with fences and walls!Solidarity is our power!

download the info-flyer here the in pdf:

info-flyer (updated 03.10.1015) ENG

info-flyer (updated 03.10.) ARABIC

Belgrade

At Luke Ćelovića square there are around 200 refugees. Almost all from Afghanistan, camping and waiting. The majority young men and a few families. At the square there is a service tent run by the organization Remar (http://remar.org). Near the square is an Infopoint for the refugees. All the Afghan refugees at Luke Ćelovića we spoke to, did not come over the Greece islands to Europe; they came from Turkey via Bulgaria on the land route to Belgrade.

belgrade-1belgrade-2

belgrade-4belgrade-3

Serbia (Preševo)

Report from Preševo:

There is chaos in the little town Preševo, since Europol joined the Serbian police in catching smugglers. The action is called Kostana 2015. Preševo police station, where they register all refugees coming to Serbia from Macedonia, has only eight computers on which the data is taken and fingerprints. At the police station in Preševo today are members of the Austrian police who are conducting a dialogue with the migrants during registration.
There are 4.000 people in Preševo, waiting on the rain to be registered.

Soure: http://www.seebiz.eu/haos-u-presevu-zbog-policijske-akcije-protiv-trgovaca-ljudima/ar-120966/

CROATIA/SERBIA/HUNGARY/MACEDONIA UPDATE (13:00)

Update from Michal Berg:
CROATIA/SERBIA border:
  • Serbian police forced all volunteers to stop providing help in full scale. At this moment refugees still goes through Bapska, but German field kitchen left and also Czech team has been forced to leave, and now provide only limited help and reorganizes supplies. It’s NOT RECOMMENDED to travel there until the bureaucratic shit with Serbian authorities is resolved. Volunteers are trying to get registration, but not done yet. Czech NGO Clovek v tisni, which does have registration, is about to be deployed there, but they will start on Monday.
  • Opatovac transit camp and its surrounding are almost empty and no need to help there. There are some volunteers helping on croatian side of border, but situation not confirmed, please let us know if you have more details.
  • Help in the Bapska area is coordinated by Matous and Vojta, his number: +420 775 992 035
  • Bajakovo, Tovarnik, Batina and Ilok border crossings are now open for transit, so it may be possible to cross border via Ilok/Backa Palanka border crossing.
HUNGARY:
  • MigrationAid needs volunteers for MAGYARBOLY / BEREMEND: VOLUNTEERS WANTED, especially who can be located there at least 2-3 days in a row at one of our crisis centers, contact Crisis centre of Beremend – Magyarboly: 1 – 2 October (evening to evening),2 October – 4 October (evening to evening),4 October – 7 October (evening to evening). Transport of volunteers from Budapest is available. The volunteers are responsible to take care of the refugees, which includes preparation of sandwiches, keeping the site clean and distribution of donations…We are looking for 10 volunteers who would work in groups of 5 in two shifts of 12 hours. (8am-8pm, 8pm-8am).Please follow our donation lists – https://www.facebook.com/migrationaidhungary and http://www.migrationaid.net/english/ so we can continuously maintain our stocks.Contact: Siewert András, Tel: +36 30 895 1917, operation@migrationaid.net, www.facebook.com/siewert.org
  • ZAKANY – still hundreds of refugees crossing this place when boarding hungarian trains. At Wednesday there were enough volunteers, but they accept donations. Refugees at Zakany urgently need apples, sliced bread, packed cheese, small juices, baby stuff (pampers etc), plastic bags, milk for children. Zakany volunteers set up a twitter account to inform what is needed there: https://twitter.com/zakanysolidar
SERBIAN-MACEDONIAN BORDER:
  • PRESEVO – The situation is still problematic in Preshevo. On Wednesday, large operation by Europol armet do smugglers has been started, and all refugees needs to be registered, which makes everything slower here and refugees waits for long hours. Food/water is provided mostly by local NGOs and volunteers. Volunteers needed, please bring cash so you can buy supplies which are the most needed, contact Agon from the Youth Office when you come close: Tel. +381 628 54 94 69.How to helo there? Take international flights to Skopje, bus, taxi or rented cars to Preshevo. There is a need at the moment for raincoats (adults and children) and warm blankets. Also needed warm jackets and rainproof shoes/boots, warm socks and caps, especially for babies and children.
  • For transports to Serbia see advice provided on this page, travel with small trucks and take crowded borders. For official transports contact Xhelal Hasani from the Center of Solidarity and Advancement Tel. +381 633 74 034, xhelal_hasani@hotmail.com
 Other news:
  • Police department in Burgenland (Eastern Austria) has opened a 24hr hotline. Family members who are looking for their relatives can call: +43 591 331 033 33
  • In case there is no evening update, morning update is still valid. We are trying to follow all major changes in situation so in case nothing important happens, you can follow instructions in morning updates. We would be happy to hear any changes or updates during the day via email or FB.
  • When traveling to help, always take headlight, reflexion vest (!!!it’s really important, we have noted some problems identifying volunteers in recent days!!!), good shoes, protective gloves and warm clothes and be prepared for rain. And always try to contact anyone in charge of coordination on site and obey his instructions. And be careful!