Greek police stripped and beat us at border, say refugees
GREEK police were accused of stripping migrants, beating them and pushing them back toward Turkey in the latest case of violence against asylum seekers at Europe’s eastern frontier.
Video shot at the Greek-turkish border showed about 20 migrants walking away from the frontier, while a graphic photograph yesterday depicted a man with deep red welts across his back.
The Daily Telegraph approached the Greek government over the allegations but did not receive a response. It has previously dismissed allegations of police brutality as “fake news”.
Thousands of asylum seekers from Syria, Iran and Afghanistan gathered after Turkey opened its side of the border as part of a campaign to secure more refugee funding from Europe. Josep Borrell, the EU’S foreign policy chief, had urged migrants not to go to the border, saying Turkey was using them as an “unacceptable” bargaining chip. “News about the alleged opening is false and people should not try to move there,” he said.
Meanwhile, the EU and Turkey continued to argue over financial support, with Turkey insisting funds should be paid directly to its government. Under the terms of the Eu-turkey migrant agreement of 2016, the EU is expected to pay Turkey just over £5billion for stemming the flow of refugees.
But Turkey has complained it has only received half that sum, while the EU continues to control how the money is spent. An EU diplomatic source said member states were unlikely to agree on sending direct payments to Ankara.
It also emerged that Danish forces working for Frontex, the EU’S border agency, refused orders from a Greek Frontex chief to push a dinghy of migrants back to the Turkish border, citing safety rules. The Danes instead took the migrants to the island of Kos.
Viktor Orban, Hungary’s prime minister, said his strict stance against illegal migration was now mainstream EU policy, referring to incidents where Greek border guards fired rubber bullets and tear gas at migrants.
Times had changed since “Hungarians were subjected to insults for protecting our borders”, Mr Orban said, adding that he had urged every EU country to adopt Hungary’s policy.
Speaking at a summit of the Visegrad 4 countries in Prague on Wednesday, he said, “it was us who announced a policy against Muslim migration”, referring to the controversial border fence Hungary set up in 2015.
The three EU presidents were in Greece this week in a show of support for Athens. They said Greece’s border was the EU’S and offered Athens extra border guards, boats and aircraft and €700million (£609million). And EU foreign ministers met in Zagreb, Croatia, yesterday to discuss the crisis. They repeated that they expected Turkey to abide by the terms of the Eu-turkey migrant deal, adding in a statement: “Illegal crossings will not be tolerated. The EU will take all necessary measures in accordance with international law. Migrants should not be encouraged to attempt illegal crossings by land or sea.”
On the Greek island of Lesbos, two men were convicted in the first legal action against Greeks accused of attacking aid workers on the island, where violence has erupted against those helping refugees.