AYS Daily Digest 10/04/2020: Police violence in Serbian refugee camp
By: Are You Syrious
Tags: Digest, Migrants, Moria, Refugees, Europe

Assault on a 14-year-old boy in Krajaca refugee camp // Peaceful protest in Moria // Frustration in Berlin at the government’s handling of the coronavirus crisis // More lockdowns in Greece // Boats in distress off the coast of Tripoli

Demonstration about security today outside Moria. Photo Credit: Aman Husseini

Feature

The Asylum Protection Center in Serbia reports that a 14-year-old boy from Syria approached camp administrators at the Krajaca refugee camp, located 10km from Belgrade, to request his pyjamas but was then physically assaulted by the employee.

The news of the young boy’s assault by the staff at the refugee camp angered many of the camp’s residents, who headed to the gate of the camp to complain and wait for the police under the belief that the police would assist them in seeking justice.

At 3 pm a large group of police officers arrived at the camp entrance, with initial reports indicating the arrival of 10 police cars. An announcement rang out across the camp demanding that everyone return back to their rooms.

The police marched through the camp and started to arrest people. It is believed they were using a list provided by the camp officials to find and locate individuals. Reports from inside the camp indicate the police used gas and excessive violence resulting in multiple injuries including a suspected broken arm. The videos show people including women and children running from their buildings coughing and covering their faces because of the gas, with one woman fainting outside the building.

The Asylum Protection Center reports the camp residents did not get an explanation of what the gas was and why the use of this gas and violence was necessary. Two buses of people were taken from the camp, but it is unclear as to why or where they were taken.

Germany

A video published online from inside a refugee centre in Berlin indicates the growing frustration and fear at the German government’s decision to continue to house individuals who have tested positive for COVID 19 at these centres. The video shows people from inside the centre trying to stop the police from transporting a coronavirus patient into the centre.



Speaking to German news outlet DW, a woman explained that “We had just got used to those infected with coronavirus in our centre, we’d calmed ourselves. But then new families were brought here and the situation escalated. I’m worried about the children. Why are they bringing infected people here? They’ve locked us in and on top of that they’re bringing infected people”. Continuing to explain the frustration with the government’s decision to transfer infected or potential infected individuals between refugee centres the woman explained “people panicked because nobody had given us any warning. We couldn’t do any shopping in advance. There were no sanitary towels left or other special products. Everyone was aggressive and angry.”

The Berlin Office for Refugees (LAF) confirmed that in total four people (one person who has tested positive for COVID-19 and three other people who have been in close contact with the individual) were transferred. The LAF claim that the decision to move the four people was taken by a doctor at very short notice and thus the residents of the refugee centre wouldn’t have been able to be informed.

Refugee rights organisations routinely criticise the conditions in the refugee centres, often citing cramped facilities and the inability for people to maintain their privacy. People are forced to share bathrooms and kitchens, which is clearly exacerbating the current public health crisis. An anonymous source from the public health authority spoke to DW and expressed concern that the complete or partial quarantine that many of these centres were being placed in without warning could act as a trigger for an individual already traumatised. The source said that it would have made more sense if the German government had accommodated people in empty hotels but “the problem was that everyone else was too worried about their own situation to think about what was happening to refugees”. There are plans by the Berlin Health Department to open a centre where people who have been infected or in contact with someone infected can be housed, but as with the general coronavirus response, little has been done to ensure that the non-German-speaking population is fully informed.

Greece

After placing two refugee and migrant camps into lockdown, the Greek health authorities have additionally placed quarantine measures onto a Roma settlement in Larissa. The Roma settlement houses an estimated 3,000 people of which 18 people have so far tested positive.

Speaking to the state-run Athens-Macedonian News Agency, Mayor Apostolos Kalogiannis said this incident “confirms the worst-case scenario”.