Evidence of Croatian police brutality as documented in a report by No Name Kitchen, SOS, and Balkan Info Van. Photo by Pablo Herrerías Valls. All rights reserved.
In the orange glow of the evening sun, a steady stream of refugees can be seen returning to their makeshift encampments near the Bosnian border-town of Velika Kladuša. Some wear bandages from previous ‘push backs’ from Croatia. Others ask us where they might find treatment for newly inflicted wounds. ‘They hit me on the backbone’ explains one man, lifting his shirt. Another refugee, recently returned from his first attempt to reach Italy, carefully rolls up his sleeve to reveal the bruises he sustained from his forced-deportation.
As we write this article, refugees are being beaten, robbed and traumatised by Croatian police, while they attempt to claim asylum in the EU. Their clandestine journeys from Bosnia through to Italy, via Croatia and Slovenia, are referred to by refugees here as “the game”.
