#‎LEBANON‬: At the present, the long term international volunteers in Lebanon are coordinating centrally around a Lebanese NGO called Salam LADC (Lebanese Association for Development and Communication). Salam has strong ties with the local authorities responsible for refugees, the UNHCR, the Lebanese Military (essential permissions for visiting and distributing at settlements) and other local and international NGOs. Independent volunteers are NOT allowed to visit settlements without military permission and contacts with local municipalities. Those who have come privately have run into trouble with the authorities when attempting to privately distribute supplies. Salam’s current international volunteers are long term (+4 weeks) and are helping to build the structure and administrative back end of our volunteer project. At the present, Salam is NOT taking any applications for international volunteers. However, we will be accepting applications for long term volunteers shortly. In the interim, volunteers who wish to come can start fundraising projects in their home countries as Salam can then direct these funds for the direct, wholesale purchase of necessary aid and organised effective distribution. Please follow Salam’s Facebook page, attached below, for regular updates on Salam projects and volunteer updates. Thank you for your continued engagement and support. https://www.facebook.com/salam.ladc/

‪#‎TURKEY‬: Turkish officials say that Greece has returned 90 migrants from Pakistan, Morocco, Algeria and Turkey who had crossed into the country from Turkey. The government’s migration agency in ‪#‎Edirne‬, northwest Turkey, said the migrants crossed back into Turkey on Friday through the ‪#‎Ipsala‬ border gate. Greece returned the migrants under an existing agreement with Greece on the readmission to Turkey of migrants who do not qualify for international protection. The migration agency said eight Algerian migrants were placed at a deportation center in Edirne, while 71 Pakistanis and Moroccans were sent to a detention center in ‪#‎Erzurum‬, in eastern Turkey.

‪#‎GREECE‬ No boats landed in the north ‪#‎Lesvos‬ today and there is no available information on south. ‪#‎Chios‬ has also seen no boats last night. But sea is calm tonight and there are some arrivals already. There are 1,600 refugees in Chios at the moment. Ferry ticket agencies have issued very low numbers of tickets to refugees for the next days, so there are no available tickets to buy until Saturday 19th of March. The Soli Cafe on Chios (www.facebook.com/solicafechios) are urgently asking for support. In contrary to the official organizations present on the island, they strongly disagree to and reject the registration process that separates refugees by nationality and leads to illegalizing and deporting people. They fight for the freedom of movement and a world without borders. The group used to supply to 450 refugees in medium per day but because of the current situation of the border closings, they are now supplying a number of nearly 2,500 refugees on the island, and the number is supposed to grow. Their cost have grown from under 100 € to almost over 500 € per each day. They urgently need financial support to keep supporting the refugees with the needed food. Volunteer kitchen teams at ‪#‎Vial‬ are not allowed in hotspot anymore, army has taken over the catering. Yesterday there were 581 people on the island of ‪#‎Samos‬. “Iokasti’s Kitchen” – Ladies of Samos & international volunteers need more volunteers and funds in order for the project to succeed. They currently provide 1,000 meals a day and from the 17th when the NoBorders kitchen leaves, they will be providing for 2,000 people. Contact them or donate here: https://www.gofundme.com/kingofsamosport. Total of 7,614 refugees are currently on the islands of northern ‪#‎Aegean‬. With the increase of refugees, four hotspots camps will be established in ‪#‎Epirus‬ region near Albanian border: ‪#‎Filippiada‬, ‪#‎Igoumenitsa‬ and two in ‪#‎Ioannina‬. Also, ‪#‎Kastoria‬, ‪#‎Florina‬ and ‪#‎Ptolemaida‬ began work on creating capacity of 5,000 people. A source close to MSF reported to ‘Top Channel’ that it will open three first aid points for refugees on the border with Albania at points ‪#‎QafëBotë‬ / ‪#‎SagiadaMauvromati‬, ‪#‎Kakavia‬ and ‪#‎Krystallopigi‬ / Kapshticë. Sources also by the Greek foreign ministry said that negotiations are continuing at a political level with the governments of neighboring countries, Albania and Bulgaria, to absorb a number of immigrants from 10-15,000 in each country.

  Mazaraki camp in Greece, 10.3.2016, by Statis Kokki.

Smugglers operate in ‪#‎Idomeni‬ – they state they are doctors and would cross them for Euro 250. People do disappear without any trace. Another thing to beware of are poisonous snakes. Spring is coming, which means they will start waking up now. In Greece there are 70 species of snakes. Most of them are not venomous (have no harmful poison). 7 (of which 5 are vipers) do have poison and a possible bite should be treated. In case of a bite, you should go to the doctor. If you can document the snake (photos), do it. It will help the doctor. There are some precaution measures you can take and in my experience help a lot avoid unhappy meetings with a snake. 1) Always close your tent when you exit. Always. Also if you are sitting right outside. Snakes are silent and you will not see them enter. 2) If you have shoes outside the tent, turn them around – always (the hole where your feet get in should face the floor). Snakes look for dark places to cuddle. If your shoes are turned around, when you pick them up, anything that went in will fall down (also spiders or scorpions). Give them a good shake. 3) Same thing for bags that you just leave on the floor. Always close them or if forgotten open shake them off.

Another news from Idomeni comes from voluteer group in Idomeni camp that is offering tea (“The Tea Tent”), saying they were not allowed in the camp. Neither were the provisions for refugees. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch both tweet that they have been denied access to Greek camps and hotspots for the past two weeks. Meanwhile, those who “wish” to be bussed to new camps are invited to do so. We believe this is an attempt to make the conditions harder than they already are, so that refugees do not have to be forcibly evicted. It remains to see what happens when all those who voluntarily leave, are gone. By allowing for the living conditions in Idomeni camp to be horrendous, Greek government forces refugees to leave the border, give up on attempting to cross, and settle in government-built shelters. A group of 800 refugees left Idomeni at the Greek-Macedonian border today. The border between Greece and FYROM is closed but more than 13,000 refugees remain in Idomeni, hoping that the border will open again. Greek authorities say there are over 42,000 refugees are currently waiting across the country. If You Are In Idomeni: The Greek government is considering how to move refugees from Idomeni and to transfer people to shelters in northern Greece. Greek government officials said that they will not evacuate the Idomeni camp using force. No clear timeline was given for an evacuation. Greek authorities say they plan to convince refugees to voluntarily move to places where they can find more humane living conditions. There are organized shelters in northern Greece, in ‪#‎Diavata‬, approximately 70 km from Idomeni, and ‪#‎Cherso‬ and ‪#‎NeaKavala‬ Greek authorities say more new shelters will be ready in few days in the area. Government will provide buses to transfer refugees. Authorities say about 800 people have agreed so far to leave the camp, but more arrive daily. If you are in the ‪#‎Piraeus‬ port: Greek authorities already transferred up to 900 people from Piraeus to ‪#‎Konitsa‬, in Northwestern Greece, and in temporary shelters in Central Greece. Transfers will continue in the next days. Authorities announced that the capacity of ‪#‎Eleonas‬ camp will be increased to 2,000 places from the current 700. A total of 3,000 refugees are hosted inside the port of Piraeus and two more ships have carried more than 880 on Friday. 162 refugees were moved from Piraeus port to the northern Greek town of Konitsa this morning. More than 10,000 refugees are hosted in shelters in ‪#‎Athens‬. Police are not allowing refugees to sleep in #Victoriasquare, informing them that there are shelters in Athens where they can be transferred. AYS container is being unloaded on Saturday at 12:00, helping hands are welcomed.

Ministry of Interior has published information on the relocation program for refugees from Greece to another EU country. This information refers to the people who entered Greece after the Sep 16th 2015, and who are citizens of Syria, Iraq, Eritrea, Central African Republic, Yemen, Bahrain, Swaziland, or a stateless person who used to live for many years in these countries. According to the information provided in the document, it means that: First – a person must file an asylum application in Greece and have his/her fingerprints taken. Greece will request another EU country to take over the examination of a case. As soon as the Ministry is informed by the other country that a person applying for relocation program and his/her family members (e.g. wife and children) are accepted, the Ministry is going to ensure that they are transported there safely and free of charge within two months. As soon as a person arrives to the other country, this country will take over the examination of the asylum application and will attend to cover asylum seeker’s basic material needs. People cannot choose the EU country in which he/she will be relocated, however factors such as having relatives, having lived, worked or studied in a European Union country as well as the condition of one’s health are taken into account. A person must hand over any documents he/she has for identity verification, as well as any documents provided to you by the Greek Police. More info is available at: http://asylo.gov.gr/en/?page_id=824. This info is written in English, as well as Arabic, Kurmanji, Greek, Sorani and Tigrinya. Some other useful links for refugees, which include more information on the relocation program, but also on family reunification, tracing lost people, free legal help, free medical care and others, can be found at the following AYS page: https://www.facebook.com/areyousyrious/posts/593580880790799?hc_location=ufi. If you are a refugee or a volunteer looking to inform a refugee-fellow, feel free to use these links as a credible and current source of information.

#BULGARIA: Bulgarian border police have thwarted attempts of a total of 66 refugees to cross the country’s border with Turkey over the past 24 hours, the Ministry of the Interior announced in a statement on Friday. The refugees, who carried no identity documents with them, all claimed to be Iraqi citizens. In another case, 17 refugees, all of them claiming to be Syrian citizens, were discovered on Thursday in the trailer of a Romanian-registered truck at #Lesovo border crossing. Police used sensors detecting elevated carbon dioxide levels inside the trailer to find the people. Bulgaria will send humanitarian assistance to the migrants and refugees stuck at Greece’s border with Macedonia in adverse weather conditions, the government in Sofia announced on Friday. The assistance will comprise tents, beds, blankets and heating materials as specified by the Greek authorities in a letter sent to Bulgaria’s Foreign Ministry, the cabinet said in a statement. Heavy rains and poor living conditions at the camp in Idomeni require urgent measures to avert a humanitarian crisis, the Bulgarian government said.

#MACEDONIA: Around 1,000 refugees are currently waiting in the #Tabanovce camp. Additional shelter is created by MSF in Tabanovce, which consists of 4 tents. Camp management placed most vulnerable in these new containers. Still, the horrific situation of people living in mud and hunger is not resolved, as there are many refugees who remained by the border line. The only difference is now that they stay on their free will, as most refugees are afraid to come inside the camp fearing being pushed back. If you are a refugee stuck in Macedonia wanting to know what your options are, please talk to IOM officers and Macedonian Young Lawyers Association, both of whom provide free legal help in Macedonia and have teams in the Tabanovce camp. A group of 13 refugees remained forgotten at the camp in #Gevgelija for 4 days now with dry food. As of today, volunteers will continue to serve them hot meal.

  Tabanovce (Mac-Ser border), 11.3.2016, by Are you Syrious?

#SERBIA: There are currently around 2,000 refugees in Serbia. Among those, 800 are in #Sid, 600 in #Presevo, 300-400 in asylum-seekers’ camps, 140 at #Krnjaci, 80 at #BanjiKoviljaci, and 100-200 in #Bogovadja, #Sjenica and #Tutin. These numbers exclude the “invisible refugees,” who are not registered at any of the official sites. There are always around 300-400 of these unregistered refugees. Refugees still continue to cross from Bulgaria to #Dimitrovgrad, 50-80 refugees per day. Gordan Paunovic, an Info Park/Fond B92 manager, has shared his scepticism about the current measures succeeding in what their claimed purpose, namely, the closure of Balkan route, and suggested that the closure is only apparent. According to Info Park findings, and from what Dimitrovgrad numbers suggest, we are witnessing an uninterrupted flow of refugees from Bulgarian border. The difference is, however, that these refugees are now being smuggled rather than entering freely. As the InfoPark Dimitrovgrad team on Bulgarian border reports, there are practically no activities in the registration center for the last 10 days, except for an occasional refugee or a group who lost their smuggling logistics. This brings us to the conclusion that what the new measures of the EU have brought is a mere flourishing of smuggling business and a complete transfer of a legal and relatively safe flow of people into illegal channels. Indeed, the numbers of 50-80 refugees a day completely coincide with the official statistics in the last weeks in Dimitrovgrad before the border’s closure. The new EU measures have only made smugglers happy. Their profits have sky-rocketed. A drive between #Sofia and #Belgrade is 1000 Euros per head, while within Serbia, smugglers charge 300 Euros per person from Bulgarian border to Belgrade. Lots of NGO and humanitarian teams are leaving Dimitrovgrad or cutting their staff down, as refugees are more keen on going directly to Belgrade. Indeed, Belgrade is boiling. There are new faces every day, people are coming and leaving. This is throwing us back to the situation from the Summer 2015, when Belgrade acted as a transit knot, where everyone was seeking for a way to leave. While it gets pretty obvious that Dimitrovgrad, Presevo and Sid are fading out, at least on the flow, Belgrade in the last days has seen pretty constant numbers of average 500-600 people present in the parks. Where do refugees go from there, when the western border is closed? Some opt to seek for an asylum in Serbia, buy some time, have a bit of rest and peace in the open camps in Krnjaca, Tutin, Sjenica and Banja Koviljaca, and plan their future. Some, like many Afghanis or Pakistanis arriving to Belgrade, are not interested at all in asylum in Serbia, do not waste time in the long registration queues and just seek for smugglers to take them across the border. Smugglers are everywhere around parks, offering their services. The smuggling route through Hungary is up and running. Some refugees get caught, imprisoned and sent back, but some makes it to the EU, in a full secrecy of illegal migration, thus becoming invisible persons that will never become EU citizens. The recent arrest of three Serbian nationals, who were smuggling 15 Pakistani refugees across the border, attests further to the proliferation of the smuggling business along the Balkan route.

#CROATIA: There are 311 refugees currently located at #Slavonskibrod camp. Double that number, however, has gathered today in #Zagreb at the protest against the Balkan route border closures. The protest was organized by Are You Syrious and Centre for Peace Studies

#SLOVENIA: From the police report released today until 6 AM, there are currently 123 refugees in accomodation centers: #Šentilj camp – 2; #Vrhnika – 52, Center for foreigners #Postojna – 69). Reception centers are empty. No-one has entered nor left the country today.

#AUSTRIA: The Austrian ‘Volksanwaltschaft’ is a public body entitled to investigate wrongdoings within public administration, as well as assists citizens if they feel they have been treated unfairly by an Austrian authority. Volksanwaltschaft recently published a report harshly criticising police authorities for hiring non-trained translators in the registration center in #Spielfeld. The translator’s job is, among others, to determine a person’s origin through interviews. These interviews often lasted for a mere couple of minutes. Nevertheless, based on these translators’ and the police officers’ hasty decisions, more than 300 people have been pushed back from Spielfeld to Slovenia and Croatia. Above all, the Volksanwaltschaft deplored the Ministry of Interior ‘s choice to hire translators via the private security company G4S, which has alleged links to senior officials in the ruling conservative party ÖVP, showing that their choice was under the strands of nepotism and corruption, rather than fair and just employment of capable translators. Austria volunteers of Border Crossing Spielfeld and legal advisors are offering legal aid to those pushed back to Slovenia who want to seek legal remedy against the Austrian police’s decision. Push-backs are illegal once a person expressed the intention to seek asylum in Austria. Please contact border.crossing.spielfeld@gmail.com for further information.

#GERMANY: A 17-year-old refugee from Egypt leapt from a train outside #Munich on Friday morning after police found him carrying a deportation order. The tragic death came about when police moved through the train checking passengers’ identity documents, Bayerischer Rundfunk reports. Officers found the young Egyptian hiding under a bench in an empty compartment. When they asked him to show his identity papers, he provided documents that he had been given in Austria. While the one document recognized the teenager’s status as a refugee in Austria, the other ordered his deportation to Italy. The officers ordered the young man to leave the compartment and wait in the corridor. But according to eyewitnesses, he used the opportunity to escape into another compartment where he opened the window and jumped out. The train was still travelling at a high speed through a town called Haar. The boy landed on an adjacent set of tracks and was killed by the impact. Police in Munich said the teenager had recently been caught by officers illegally entering Germany and had been sent back to Austria at the time. This means that Germany broke its promise of granting a special protection to unaccompanied minors, which ensures that minors will not be pushed-back out of Germany.

In 2015 a lot less refugees came to Germany than reported. While interior minister spoke of more than one million new arrivals, government now said, that only around 600.000 refugees arrived. 627.000 lived in Germany in the end of 2014, so the total number was around 1.250.000 refugees. In the end of 2015 950.000 people in Germany had an asylum or refugee status. Additionally, to that around 300.000 were not able to ask for asylum by now but have been registered as refugees.

#DENMARK: Denmark is punishing its citizens for taking on the task that State has failed in accomplishing. A Danish children’s rights activist, Lisbeth Zornig Andersen, was Friday fined €3,000 for transporting a Syrian refugee family in her private car. Her husband was fined the same amount for taking the family into his home for coffee and biscuits, and then driving them to the railway station, where he bought them tickets to Sweden. “This was a political trail, using me and my husband to send a strong message: don’t try to help refugees,” Zornig said after the verdict. “I am very angry because the only thing we did was the decent thing, the same that hundreds of others did. They are criminalising decency.” Zornig has decided to appeal against the verdict. The trial is one of the first of hundreds of Danes who responded in early September to the thousands of refugees who walked from Germany into Denmark, many of them on their way to Sweden where the asylum regime at the time was more relaxed. Under Denmark’s Aliens Act, it is a crime to transport people who do not have residence permits. Police say 279 people have been charged in the period from September 2015 to February 2016. In January, a man was fined DKr5,000 (£517) for driving an Afghan family from the German border in September. On Thursday, a 70-year-old pensioner was fined DKr12,500 for a similar offense. Zorning has become a voice for ordinary people who saw footage of refugees on the news in early September and wanted to help, according to Line Søgaard, a spokesperson for refugee support group “Welcome to Denmark.“

#FRANCE: Tensions have been mounting in the #Calais Jungle today, with migrants and volunteers confronting riot police as authorities pushed ahead with destroying the southern part of the camp. Several shelters in the Calais Jungle, including a makeshift mosque, have been set on fire as migrants are refusing to leave the shanty town build barricades, in a bid to block authorities from dismantling the camp. The huge blaze started at around 4.30pm local time, following up on a series of fires that were started yesterday. One witness claims the fires were started by French riot police “to accelerate the destruction of the Jungle”. Several shelters were also set on fire by groups refusing to leave the camp, as refugees aimed at forming a fire barricades to avoid eviction. French authorities are encouraging migrants to move into accommodation kitted out with heating and showers provided by the government. However, many migrants have been reluctant to move into the shipping containers because they fear it will ruin their chances of reaching the UK. Nevertheless, the demolition of part of a vast and infamous refugee camp in Calais is forcing people into new makeshift settlements in the surrounding area. Aid workers said that as many as six new camps had sprung up since authorities started dismantling the southern part of ‘the Jungle’ nearly two weeks ago. These new camps, which residents also referred to as ‘jungles’, house anywhere from 15 to 150 people and are located near service stations and truck stops.

#EU: The first ever request to the European Court of Human Rights for an interim measure has been sent by Afghan asylum applicants. These applicants are fleeing Afghanistan with their children, and currently living in Idomeni in flooded tents, appalling conditions, and being daily refouled at the border.
The lawsuit is filed against Greece, but also against Macedonia, Serbia, Austria, Croatia, Hungary and Slovenia, because of their joint decision for discriminatory closure of borders and massive discriminatory refoulment on grounds of international protection seekers’ nationality.

English information about RELOCATION by w2eu (Arabic translation to be followed.): http://w2eu.info/greece.en/articles/greece-legal.en.html

Cover photo by Reuters.

Read more here

1. What is your final destination?

2. What are you planning to do there?

Legal experts advice people not to go into details regarding their future plans but instead insist and limit their answer to the fact that they are planning to ask for asylum.

Link to the video taken last night at the Šid trainstation: https://www.periscope.tv/w/1DXxyzMAZZRKM

After Austria decided to tighten its policies, which are more strict to let people, who will ask asylum in Germany or Austria,  to enter its borders, domino effect is occuring on the Balkan route, making some countries to enforce pushbacks.

Information from 16.2.2016 from the group Are you syrious?

PUSHBACKS: This is a special note on push-backs that are being conducted as a joint effort of Austrian, Slovenian, Croatian, Serbian and Macedonian authorities. Reasons for pushbacks are many, non Syrian, Iraqi or Afghan identification documents, failure to pass language test if one is being suspected not to be SIA national, wrong answer to final destination (must be Germany or Austria), wrong answer to reasons for migration (must be war), many arbitrary decisions, such as suspicion of translator not being politically neutral, a refugee not being recruited in the military, not knowing the date of some religious holiday, discrimination based on national, racial, linguistic characteristics of a person. There pushbacks are occurring without regards to official procedure and international protection rights. The route of a return is: Šentilj – Dobova – Zagreb (Porin/Ježevo) – Slavonski Brod – Šid and/or Belgrade (Krnjača) – Macedonia – Greece. A refugee can attempt to re-enter the route. Indeed, many refugees are re-doing the route a few times before they are finally granted an asylum, which only tells us they had the right all the way, but the European regime denied them their right.

Open borders for everyone!

#‎WeatherAegean: United Rescue issues an IMPORTANT warning for the Aegean Sea: A huge storm is expected Saturday the 16th of January and Sunday the 17th of January which will be a thunderstorm on some of the islands accompanied by high waves. Also, snow is expected to fall on some of the islands in the Aegean Sea with a significant drop in temperatures. Dear refugee friends, please cancel all crossings.

تحذير هام :
عاصفة قوية محملة بالأمطار و الثلوج ستضرب المناطق و الجزر المطلة على بحر إيجه . مما سيسبب ارتفاع عالي بمستوى أمواج البحر و ذلك في تاريخ السادس عشر و السابع عشر من شهر كانون الثاني و الذي يصادف أيام السبت و الأحد الرجاء من الاخوة المهاجرين اخذ الحيطة و الحذر و عدم تعريض انفسهم و اطفالهم لخطر الغرق و الموت
أخي المهاجر سلامتك و سلامة اطفالك أولا

A larger update on the EU borderzones by the activists from Are You Syrious?

17.1.2016 Balkan route and some Northern EU countries

AYS DAILY NEWS DIGEST 16/1/2016 /// STOP THE SIEGE IN DEIR EZZOR /// HUGE STORM EXPECTED IN THE AEGEAN SEA CONTINUES ON SUNDAY /// THREE ARRESTED VOLUNTEERS IN GREECE RELEASED /// TURKISH COASTGUARD CUTS FUEL PIPES ON REFUGEE BOAT LEAVING IN STRANDED IN AEGEAN /// FIVE DEAD BODIES; LIKELY REFUGEES; FOUND NEAR SAMOS /// SNOWSTORMS EXPECTED DURING THE NEXT 72 HOURS IN SERBIA, REFUGEES ARE ADVISED NOT TO TRAVEL BY FOOT DURING THAT TIME /// QUESTIONABLE DETENTION METHODS FOR MIGRANTS AND INADEQUATE CONDITIONS IN THE DETENTION CENTRE IN SLOVENIA /// ALL OCCUPIED DWELLING CLEARED FROM THE JUNGE AREA INTENDED FOR BULLDOZING /// THE FIRST GROUP OF ASSYLUM SEEKERS TO BE RELOCATED TO THE NETHERLANDS ON FRIDAY ///

‪#‎SYRIA: We at AYS would like to draw attention to yet another city under siege and ask the appropriate authorities to intervene as they did in ‪#‎Madaya. And we ask you all to share this information as much as you can in order to raise awareness and help stop another siege – the one at ‪#‎DeirEzzor. It is our duty and responsibility to raise our voices and help those in need in every way we can. More than 200.000 are under siege in this Syrian city, by ISIS and the government regime. There is no food, no electricity, no medicines and water is available only for 2 to 3 hours per week.
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‪#‎TURKEY: Volunteers notice that in ‪#‎Izmir, through which it is believed that over 75% of refugees pass in order to get to Greece, women remain together with their children in tea shops while the men are out dealing, finding a way to get across the Aegean. They got the information that many refugees were deceived into believing that the Turkish mafia or others were legitimate salespeople and would sell them a spot on a boat and then never showed up. Volunteers notice that everyone is on the lookout for one another and that desperation abounds.

NY Times reports on the information from Anadolu Agency, says that The Turkish authorities briefly detained 27 scholars on Friday, accusing them of spreading “terrorism propaganda” and of insulting the state after they signed a petition denouncing the military’s campaign against Kurdish militants in southeastern Turkey. Most of the scholars were from Kocaeli University in northwestern Turkey and were detained in early-morning raids on their homes. By Friday evening, all had been released, according to Turkish news media reports. All 27 scholars were among more than 1,000 academics from 90 Turkish universities who signed a public statement, “We Won’t Be a Party to This Crime,” that urged the government in Ankara, the capital, to end the “deliberate massacre” of Kurds caught in clashes between Turkish security forces and militants of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or P.K.K.
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‪#‎GREECE: According to UNHCR, 4,150 people arrived yesterday to this country, which is an increase of 43.2% in comparison to the day before (Jan 14th). UNHCR also says that the in the period from Jan 1st to Jan 11th, 44% of refugees were men, 21% women and 35 % children, that most of the refugees came from Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq, and in lesser numbers from Iran, Morocco and Pakistan. Yesterday, 2,663 people arrived to ‪#‎Lesvos, 1,085 to ‪#‎Chios, 291 to ‪#‎Samos, 59 to ‪#‎Kos, no one to ‪#‎Leros, and 11 Southern Dodecanese, while1,551 person departed from the islands to the mainland.

Instead of a general overview, we are bringing you what a volunteer at Lesvos islan, @BenGow, wrote in his post today: „These are interesting times, there seems to be a shift in atmosphere. Reports of boats being paddled for five hours, with the two emergency paddles and hands, to the Greek shore, because the Turkish coastguard cut the fuel lines. Just this morning I hear a boat came in at 5am, packed with exhausted, shivering people and crying children. Some of the petrol from cut pipes flowed into the boat. All breathed in the petrol fumes, and a five month pregnant women was sick and vomiting on shore. While here in Greece, three Spanish lifeguards have been arrested for towing in a stranded dinghy with 51 refugees, and charged with human trafficking (…).

This follows moves to require volunteers and NGOs to register with police, and an agreement between authorities on Lesvos and the International Rescue Committee that effectively gives the IRC control over aid efforts in the north of the island. Frontex has shut down a spotting station run by volunteers. Used to spot the boats from Turkey, it sent signals to the beach crews alerting them where boats were landing. Greece came under pressure to “secure Europe’s borders”, threatened even with exclusion from Schengen, accused that it wasn’t doing enough to control the refugee exodus. (…).

The first actions are to close down infrastructure like soup kitchens and the watchtower, and establish fast deportation routes back to Turkey, without the option to claim asylum here, and arrest volunteers. Independent volunteers can act quickly and provide support and avoid the bureaucracy that slows larger NGO’s down. The evidence is here for all to see that when we all work together the results are incredible. Every day I can see if it weren’t for the small NGOs and individual volunteers stepping up to help a lot of people would have drowned, starved or died of hypothermia and lack of medical treatment. What’s happening in Greece is the inevitable outcome of a Europe that doesn’t know what to do with itself. The problem is not “too many NGOs.” It’s “too little action, too late, by those who should be acting.” The atmosphere seems to have turned as cold as the winter storms threatening the horizon.“
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#‎WeatherAegean: United Rescue issues an IMPORTANT warning for the Aegean Sea: A huge storm is expected Saturday the 16th of January and Sunday the 17th of January which will be a thunderstorm on some of the islands accompanied by high waves. Also, snow is expected to fall on some of the islands in the Aegean Sea with a significant drop in temperatures. Dear refugee friends, please cancel all crossings.
‪#‎IslandsBoats: By 8PM not one boat has arrived to Lesvos. Also, due to very strong winds prevailing in the Aegean Sea today, the BLUE STAR PATMOS – one of the 3 ships chartered for the transportation of refugees from Lesvos and #Chios to ‪#‎Piraeus – scheduled to arrive #Piraeus-E1 tomorrow Sun17/1 at 9:30 AM is stuck at Chios port on its way to ‪#‎Mytilene port of Lesvos island.

Two volunteers from Team Humanity and three from Proem Aid teams who were arrested and charged with people trafficking were released today at the court in Mytilene where they waited for the decision for 10 hours. In their post, Team Humanity stated that everyone was released on a €5,000 bail each, except for one member, Salam Aldeens, on a €10,000 bail and he is the only one who cannot leave Greece until next trial which might take 18 months. He has to show up at the Police Station once a week. It is not clear whether the bail of the other team member, Mos Abbassi needs to be paid up front or whether he can leave the country or not.

Sirius Help reports that the last night (10pm-7am) patrol on the southern coast of Lesbos island became more dramatic than usual. They assisted the mooring of 6 boats and 220 passengers including approximately 50 small children to go on shore. The engine of one of the boats stopped 30m from shore at 2 meters deep water. Three volunteers including SIRIUS.HELP team’s Dalma swam to push and pull it to ground. Also, they report on a boat which was approaching the coastline, and the early alert reached the team around 5am. The boat was packed with exhausted, shivering people and crying children. As Sirius team learned, the Turkish Coast Guard impeded them, cut the fuel pipes and abandoned the rudderless, tumbling boat. Petrol from cut pipes flowed partly into the boat. All breathed in the petrol fume. A fifth month pregnant women fall ill and continued vomiting on shore. People rowed with the two emergency paddles and their hands to get closer to the Greek coast. Fortunately, there was a qualified technician who made an effort to fix the unusable engine. After 3 hours of hard work he succeeded. This is how the otherwise 30-minute trip lasted for 5 hours, with people frightened of dying. 90% of the people in the boat were Syrians fleeing from the war.

Regarding the new introduction of mandatory registration for volunteers in Lesvos (and according to some information also in Chios) that we reported about in one of our last news digests, it will start sometime next week at the Ministry of the Aegean building (there is also a plan for introducing on-line registration system). You should go to this office with your passport/ID and register as a volunteer – whether part of an NGO or an independent. You will fill out forms and declare any special qualifications you have and intend to apply on your volunteer work. Those with life-saving qualifications need to register at the port police as well. Some volunteers’ groups report on the similar police request to record data of the volunteers belonging to organizations and independent groups on Chios.

Volunteers from Lesvos at ‪#‎Moria Olive Grove Medical barn inform that a few official changes have been made to the operation of the camp which means volunteers now have to move most of their medical personnel to the inside of the camp to support the compound clinic on the other side. The barn will now be used as a storage area for doctors to store medicines and also grab medical supplies. The barn will also be used as a resting and break point for the medical staff who will also be patrolling the registration queues and the camp in general to make sure everybody gets a chance to receive medical attention. Volunteers are still aiming to provide immediate and extensive 24/7 medical care: staff will always operate inside the compound but are now also extending their services to patrol the registration queues and check on the new bus arrivals. They encourage all volunteers to introduce themselves to the medical staff who will be roaming around the camp from now on. They are looking forward to working with everyone closely and providing the best possible care to the refugees.

Greek media published the news on 5 bodies of people who were likely refugees, which have been found dead at the eastern Greek island of #Samos (according to Greek authorities). The Greek coast guard has recovered the bodies of two men and three women, and are trying to recover the sixth in rough seas, a coast guard spokeswoman told The Associated Press. No vessel has been recovered yet. The rescue operation continues, said the spokeswoman, who was not authorized to be identified because of the continuing operation.

Volunteers from #Chios report that they found just two destroyed boats in the morning at the shore. They do not know what happened with the people in there. Volunteers are providing fresh food to the refugees at the island. 470 people spent the night there yesterday.

Greek media report on the situation at the detention center in ‪#‎Corinth, as shared by NoBorders initiative. They write about 383 prisoners with an average age of 23-24 years, 50 of which are citizens of Algeria, 5 Tunisians and the rest citizens of Morocco. The population of prisoners varies per day – for example, 28 people left the camp the day before yesterday, while 28 people were brought from the islands on the same day. According to information from the detainees, some 120 have applied for voluntary return and only 2 for asylum. Information on asylum, as it appears, is not clear. Communication with the detainees is extremely difficult as few speak little English, while at the same time there is no interpreter. Lack of care is visible, with the majority of prisoners to complain about itching, and many have visible rashes. Some people are ill and do not receive adequate care, while the food portions are inadequate as well. Chambers are dirty. And these people continue to ask – “Why am I here, I am not a criminal!” We remind that the people held in detention center have started a hunger strike yesterday as a struggle for better conditions in the center.
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‪#‎MACEDONIA: It’s raining at the north state border of Macedonia in the refugee transit center ‪#‎Tabanovce. The Minister of Labour and Social Policy, Frosina Remenski paid a working visit to the Transit Center Tabanovce today in order to get acquainted with the activities under the jurisdiction of the ministry. The Minister announced that she will work on improving conditions after getting acquainted with the current situation. Regarding the question what will be the fate of economic migrants in detention centers which Serbia refuses to accept, the Minister said that they have the right to stay six days in the camps, then the institutions have to decide on their fate.
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‪#‎SERBIA: The weather in ‪#‎Dimitrovgrad is reported to be extremely bad and snowstorms are expected for the next 72 hours. The refugees are advised not to cross the border until further notice as the level of snow on the ground is expected to reach 1 meter tonight. 84 people from Iraq and Afghanistan, including 6 women / 5 kids and 2 babies (3 and 10 months old) made it to Dimitrovgrad yesterday and reported: “the smugglers left us when it started to snow and we walked for 8 hours alone through the forest and river.” iHo team was on site all night delivering and helping those who had to completely change their clothes and a lot of socks/shoes/pullovers/gloves/hats/scarves, jackets and blankets were given today. Some left by train to Belgrade and others by taxi to Šid. The need volunteers from Monday onwards. If you can help, please e-mail them at: info@iho.org.uk. They also need donations, specifically shoes (sizes 40-44), socks, gloves and hats. You can ship your donations to: Ja sam covek Organization, Balkanska 140, Dimitrovgrad, Serbia.
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‪#‎CROATIA: 832 refugees entered the Republic of Croatia from midnight until 9 a.m.11 persons are currently on the premises of ‪#‎SlavonskiBrod Temporary Admission Center. Yesterday a total of 2,493 refugees entered Croatia. Volunteers report that they had a pretty active day today due to the four full trains that arrived to Slavonski Brod. Due to the improvement in weather conditions, the refugees were generally in better state than yesterday. However, they also noticed a large number of children and elders who were visibly exhausted. Magna organization URGENTLY needs pediatricians as there are currently none in Slavonski Brod. Please send an e-mail to ocb@magna.sk. Miro Kovač, one of the likeliest candidates for the new Minister of Foreign Affairs has stated “if Austria and Slovenia close their borders, then Croatia should close its borders with Serbia as well…” At the meeting of the European Council on Refugees and Exiles, Members of Centar za mirovne studije, a Croatian organization active in Slavonski Brod, expressed their concern (together with other members of the Council) regarding the overall failure of the EU and its Member States to provide an adequate response to the refugee humanitarian crisis.
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‪#‎SLOVENIA: Today 1,674 refugees entered Slovenia by 6 PM while 1,605 refugees left Slovenia today. Centers across the country are empty, with the exception of Postojna, with 35 refugees and ‪#‎Livarna 839. The Slovenian Government has denounced that it is planning to install razor-wire fence along the entire 670 km long border with Croatia.
On the 14th of January, local volunteers went to the detention center in ‪#‎Postojna (DC) – a prison for people who do not have the “right papers”. Within the frames of the arbitrary segregative politics, it has also become a transitional detention center for those who are denied entry into Austria because of false documents or lies about their country of origin. Most of the detained have been excluded from the groups in which they were travelling without any explanation or information on what will happen to them. Also, a few individuals who asked for asylum in Slovenia but got a negative response through quick procedure (within a few hours) were transferred to Postojna and are now detained here. There are currently 50 men detained in the section of the DC. The oldest person is a 42 years old man, others are not older than 30 years. In DC, there is also another separate, smaller section, where 4 minors are detained (2 from Afghanistan and 2 from Morocco/Algeria). None of them has been detained for more than 2 months. Currently, persons who have applied for asylum in Slovenia are also detained.

There is no translator present. Currently, one of the detainees who spoke with the volunteers is translating, since he speaks 6 languages. As a “counter-favour”, the police allow him longer visits. Therefore, they were allowed to talk to him for 63 minutes, rather than the legally permissible 30 minutes. Currently, there are no NGOs going to DC. The only activity of the detained people is playing ping-pong or max. 2 hours of release into the courtyard of DC. Because of the conditions in DC, the situation among the detainees there is tense. 6 social workers are employed, 2 per shift. They mainly do grocery shopping for the detainees in the nearby store. They do not offer psycho-social aid. According to the interviewed detainee, they are present in the office, but given that there is a linguistic barrier, he sees no point in this. The doctor arrives if there is need for medical help. They can only shave once a week, under police supervision. Meals are very bad. For example, lunch is bread and salami or bread and cheese. Dinner is “better”, since they also sometimes receive warm soup.

For calls made from the common, public telephone of DC, people have to pay 5 euros for 50 seconds of phone call. Even though a computer exists there, it can be used only occasionally – the only website they are allowed to access is Youtube. 6-8 people are accommodated in rooms, where they sleep on iron bunk beds. On the message board at the entrance of the DC, there is the daily order and the activities/rights of those detained in DC. Our co-speaker emphasized that none of the rights can be exercised by those detained (psycho-social aid, courses of Slovenian language, daily minimum of 1 hour exit to the court yard of DC, 20 minute access to computers on weekends, creative and other activities, NGO visits, etc.)
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#FRANCE: Urgently needed are Dari, Pashtu, Amharic speakers who are free on Thursday and Friday (21st, 22nd) to travel out to #Calais to help lawyers identify children with relatives already in the UK who can be reunited with their families. If you can help, please PM Mitch Mitchell or London2Calais on Facebook.

Calais Actions announced that volunteers finally managed to move the homes of approximately 1,300 people. The entire buffer zone is cleared now of all occupied dwellings is almost ready to be bulldozed. Everyone has been safely moved and re-settled and the entire relocation process has taken place with respect, dignity and co-operation. Tomorrow, they will move the remaining unoccupied shelters (rescuing them for future use) and will continue building. They built 23 shelters today and are aiming for a further 11 tomorrow to ensure that everyone who needs it has a roof over their heads. Total shelters built since the eviction notice currently stands at 70 – hopefully 81 by close of play tomorrow. They also point to the fact that new people still arrive in Calais and Dunkirk. Another group of volunteers report that the new ‘humanitarian’ camp has opened and that its metal boxes look inhumane. They also report that the jungle’s depopulation is at an advanced stage and that many people have left even before the self-evictions in the last days. The buses are allegedly driving people to new accommodation places.

Rastplatz team is urgently searching for long term volunteers in #Dunkirk or teams to help the refugees in the “forgotten camp”. They are currently looking for volunteers who could manage the men’s clothing distribution centre, the women’s clothing distribution centre and the new arrivals centre. If you are interested (ideally a team, but individuals are welcomed as well), please e-mail dunkerquerefugees@gmail.com. Volunteers from Dunkirk also report that the warehouses are full and they are now only taking men’s trousers and winter coats, and women’s leggings in order to prevent throwing donations away. They will put out a call for clothes when they are again needed. They also ask people not to try and sneak in tents and building material, which are forbidden by the police. A van was caught doing it this morning and were permanently banned from the camp. More importantly, if more people are caught doing this, they will put other volunteers at risk of losing control over the aid access and, thus, cause damage to the camp and the refugees inside.
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#GERMANY: The decision of a bath in Bornheim, a city between Cologne and Bonn, to suspend every male refugee, caused a lot criticism. Media reports that they want to withdraw this decision. The city council will decide on Monday when refugees are going to be allowed in there again. Before it was reported that refugees pestered women in the bath, but no complaint has been reported to the police.
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#DENMARK: In one of the Danish cities, Hells Angels are supposed to be evicted from a facility which is to be repurposed for the refugees. After citizens protested against this decision, Hells Angels published a statement on their website saying that there is no need for people to turn against those seeking salvation and that focus should be placed on those who contribute to conflicts, mainly emphasizing large political unions such as the EU and the UN.
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#NETHERLANDS: Dutch media reports that the first group of asylum seekers to come to the Netherlands under the EU-wide resettlement programme will arrive in the Netherlands on Friday, broadcaster Nos says. In total, 50 Eritrean nationals will be brought to the Netherlands from Italy on two flights – one arriving in the morning, the other in the afternoon. In total, 160,000 refugees who have arrived in Italy and Greece will be relocated to other European countries via the plan. The Netherlands is set to accept some 9,000 people under the quota plan.
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#UK: Guardian reports that protesters have staged a “die-in” at St Pancras station in London over plans to clear an area of the makeshift migrant camp in Calais known as the Jungle. Dozens of demonstrators gathered at the Eurostar terminal at noon on Saturday for an emergency protest organised by the London2Calais Convoy, which organises convoys of essential supplies from London to refugees in the French port. A statement posted on London2Calais’s event page on Facebook, which had nearly 400 people down to attend on Saturday, said: “The French state is preparing to bulldoze large sections of the so-called ‘Jungle’ refugee camp in Calais. “Around 2,000 people have been given three days notice of the planned eviction, coerced into applying for asylum in France without providing a real alternative for them to live. “Many of the people living in the Calais ‘Jungle’, including unaccompanied minors, have close family in the UK. As activists in Britain, we believe that while the ‘Jungle’ is a symptom of the crisis in Calais and Dunkirk, the root cause is British migration and foreign policy.”
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”At the border Croatia-Slovenia (Dobova) refugees are separated by country of origin and sent back!”

”Before even arriving in Slovenia, people are given documents to sign. The documents are not translated so people do not know what they are signing. When they arrive to Slovenia, people are then segregated according to these documents. Some are allowed to pass, while others are sent back to Croatia by train. Currently, people from Africa, Afghanistan and Iraq are being sent back.

In Dobova, there are international, self-organized volunteers who set up a tent behind the train station. People who want to help can come there. Help will be very much needed from Saturday (21.11.2015) onwards, because the international team is leaving on that day.”

IMPORTANT: However it is to say that it is not ment that all people from Africa, Afganistan and Iraq are being sent back! According to the Slovenian national media (source: http://www.rtvslo.si/svet/drzave-na-balkanski-poti-ustavile-prehod-ekonomskih-migrantov/379011) the Balkan countries, for now starting with Serbia (comming through Macedonia) are not letting anymore through people from Morocco, Bangladesh, Sri lanka, Algeria, Liberia, Congo, Sudan and Pakistan, as they are starting to be considered as economic migrants.

According to the media people from Syria, Iraq and Afganistan are let through!

However this is not clear, as for now Slovenian general secretary Boštjan Šefic is denying this, but people should prepare that this will most probably become the reality.

Moving to the northern border in Slovenia (bordercrossing Spielfeld/Šentilj (Slovenia-Austria). Information and video (15.11.2015):

“After the official statements that all is under control and volunteers are not needed, self-organized volunteers went to no man’s land. People are still waiting days and hours, no food, no water, no medical help, police uses violence and people are sleeping on cold wet floors waiting to be accepted into Austria.”

[wpvideo bNr9eObK]

Additional older information (12.11.2015) from Preševo (border Macedonia-Serbia):

“The situation is a catastrophe: fences build big cage-like areas in which the “crowd” that “needs to be controlled” stands squeezed for hours, pregnant women and kids within them, without being able to move or to go to the toilet, with no water or food. People who faint in the cages are somehow transported next to the fences by the crowd and hauled out by supporters. Again: no doctors present, it’s supporters providing first aid. The people in the first line are pressed against the fences. To have less pressure lots of them throw their bags over the fence. When the police then opens the fences, people who have been waiting for hours sprint forward. Lots of them fall over the luggage and are run over by the people from the back, pressing to get forward. Families are separated in a brutal way, which increases the panic as nobody tells them they can reunite after the registration. Sometimes the fences give in and the people burst out. Police then hits whoever is in front with truncheons. We observed how the Police tried to control the situation by forcing people (beating and threatening with tasers) to sit down. They could than only “go” out of the cage one by one, moving forward on their knees. Everybody who tried to stand up was beaten, even persons with children on their back.”

And more recent for the volunteers (18.11.2015) from the same bordercrossing:

“I would follow up however that the camp has just been reorganized, and in this new schema most international volunteers will not be really able to assist beyond moderate food/tea distribution. Any potential volunteers, PLEASE before packing up in your car consult the local volunteer coordinator as there is VERY limited hotel space and police do not trust most international volunteers who are not under the protection of the local entity.”

However we should not forget that even though the humanitarian aid is really important to contribute to peoples well being at the borders, especially as self-organized activists are reporting that official NGO’s are not doing their job well enough and sometimes at all, but in order to fight the discriminatory developing EU’s immigration and asylum system, neo-colonialism, whether economic or racist, and capitalism we have to develop political forms at the borders, internal and external, that provide accessibilities and wellbeing for all.

(Cover photo by BoBo.)

On November 10th 2015 at the ”emergency” government assembly in Slovenia Slovenian prime minister Miro Cerar announced that the government with its ministers agreed on the establishment of the barbed wire, or what they politically correct call ‘technical obstacles‘, at the Croatian-Slovenian border. He announced that since Germany and Austria are tightening their asylum systems and threatening to let less and less people through their borders, Slovenia could experience a ”humanitarian crisis”, as the winter is comming and the country doesn’t possess enough infrastructure and resources.  This is not just an egoistic move from the Slovenian supposedly centric government which by its own account promotes ”human rights and values”, but is a important part of the developing European Union’s immigration and asylum system. The move of building of the fence also comes after the end of the Greek fairy workers strike, which according to the mainstream media, temporarly slowed down the influx of people. After the strike, Slovenian minister of external affairs Karl Erjavec  announced by its own sources that 30.000 are already on the way to Slovenia.

Slovenian government not only wants to show off by playing a role of the external Schengen guardian and a ”good” and obeying member state, but on its national level fears that if Austria and Germany close or additionally tighten their borders, it can become a  so called ‘tampon zone’. Cerar is saying that he doesn’t want a ‘humanitarian catastrophe in Slovenia’ and the beginning of the emplacement of the barbed wire will serve only to regulate the influx of people. It is obvious that his words are hypocritical and need a radical translation: Slovenia, as well as the EU, doesn’t want the blood on its hands, that is why it is much easier if we keep the people at the external borderzones – in this case whether becoming or potential future member states of the EU (mostly Balkan countries) or Turkey – let us not forget the pushing future agreements between EU and Turkey regarding the management of the incoming people. This practice of externalization is not new for the EU, as we already seen in the practices of the agreements with the African countries to keep the people even from reaching the Mediterranean.

Even more worrying, regarding the development of the EU’s immigration and asylum system and Schengen zone, is the recently posted ‘Draft Council conclusions on measures to handle the refugee and
migration crisis’. To name only the most concerning points of the European Council and European Commission:

6. as regards border control for entry and exit into and out of the Schengen area, to assist the
Member States concerned in respecting their legal obligation to perform adequate controls.
This will involve a range of supporting measures by Frontex, gradually extending, as
necessary, to the deployment of Rapid Border Intervention Teams (RABITs);

7. to support the upscaling [by 1 December 2015] the Poseidon Sea Joint Operation in Greece
within the current operational plan;

(more – source: http://www.statewatch.org/news/2015/nov/eu-council-handling-refugee-migration-crisis-conclusions-draft-13738-15.pdf)

Slovenia already started to put the 1,8 m high barbed wire (more precisely razor wire) at parts of borders with Croatia (for now few hundred meters): at Velik Obrež (Brežice, Dobova) by the river Sotla and at Gibina (municipality Razkrižje).

(Cover photo: Luka Cjuha)

In the last week(s) there has been an establishment of the ‘official corridor’ through the so called Balkan route. This intergovernmental agreement’s aim is to control the flow of people who are fleeing for a better life in Europe. Even though it may sound as an improvement, for the better fluctuation of people, it is one of the steps of the development of the common European Union’s immigration system. The institutionalization of the corridor, which was before established by the constructive forces of incomming people and self-organized activists through the mutual struggle, means new forms of exclusive inclusion to the territory of the EU.

The aim of the so called official corridor is, as mentioned in the previous article, to let a certain number of people to the next country, where usually full EU member states (as Austria and Slovenia) hold a privileged position. This of course doesn’t always work as the number of people and their struggle to reach the desired destination is not manageble by such system. The reason for its establishment is always the discourse of security and liberal humanitarism of the EU and seperate member states. Political functionaries as well as repressive organs are saying, that if we don’t manage the flows well, it could come to the chaos and collapse of the EU. The only chaos in this case is the creative chaos of the incoming people who produce fear for the privileged economical and political castes that are responsible for the suffering of the wide majority of the worlds population.

Austria has put barbed wire around Šentilj/Spielfeld border (source: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/nov/04/austrian-police-barbed-wire-border-chancellor) for what it states ”in the name of the security of its population and incoming people (migrants, refugees etc. if you wish)”. Yesterday came also an unofficial report by the Slovenian national television that Slovenia already bought 125 km of fence (which costed 1,5 million Eurs altogether) (source: http://www.rtvslo.si/begunska-kriza/prvi-kilometri-ograje-naj-bi-ze-bili-v-drzavi/377908), but its government hasitates to give more information. Its army is already at the borders with full armed gear, helping logistically with the police, but until now changes for the Slovenias Defense law – that would enable the army to use the authorities of the police – are still not enacted (for more read: https://www.oplatz.net/2015/10/28/reestablishing-state-of-exception-in-the-eu-and-a-call-for-international-meeting-manifestation-and-solidarity-action-in-slovenia/).

Such countries fear that if the next country of destination would close it’s borders, it would develop ‘pockets’ in their countries. This means that incoming people would be stranded in their countries. This of course doesn’t stop in Slovenia or Austria, but goes all way back to Croatia, Serbia, Macedonia etc. A. Merkel and other EU’s technocrats on the privileged positions are hoping for a deal with Turkey to surpress and ‘filter’ the flow of people – as mentioned, to let selectively through a certain amount of people, whether to humanitarian background or economical interest, where we presume that the letter play the most important role. Merkel is also warning for the ‘potential wars‘ that could erupt at the Balkans if the upcoming countries close their borders, but one cannot fail to see the hypocrisy here. If we translate her words and recent EU policies in concrete material grounds this actually means that: ”we want a stable workforce, since the demographic downfall in the recent years in the Western European countries is producing financial deficits, and we don’t want wars in our proximity, whether on the EU’s territory or within potential member states in the Balkans. This is the hypocrisy of the humanitarian and ‘open handed’ approach by such politicians.

In the end of the post it is important to move to the happening at some borders.

At Preševo and Opatovac, according to activist from the Open Borders Caravan few days ago (2.11.2015):

‘#BERKASOVO / #BAPSKA / #OPATOVAC / #TOVARNIK – Exhausted volunteers are seeking help as temperatures are dropping below zero, and thousands of new refugees are arriving every day. They also need food, clothes, blankets, basically everything. If you have a way of bringing help across the border, please go to #Berkasovo, where lots of people are arriving on foot, without good clothes fot this cold weather. If not, bring it to #Bapska or #Opatovac.’

This is old information, so everyone planing to go there please contact self-organized groups who are on the field, to find out what is needed. The idea of this outdated quote is to inform people, that help is still needed.

What is needed here is a few words about the relation between self-organized volunteers/activists and ‘official’ volunteers (working under the umbrella of the NGO – such as Red Cross etc.). There were tensions at the Slovenian borders, since both groups started to blame eachother about what should be done and what the other is doing wrong. With the establishment of the ‘official’ corridor, self-organized volunteers/activists, who see the whole ‘refugee crisis’ as a issue of European discriminative politics – whether border, migration, neocolonial, capitalist to name the few, are prevented (or it least it is really difficult) to destribute different kinds of aid. We should not forget that in the past weeks it was them on the ‘Balkan route’ struggling along and supporting the incoming people to demand better treatment of the latter, not the official NGO’s who were waiting for the permission of their supperiors to allow them to do something, while people were freezing outside.

This is most visible at the ‘no-mans land‘ at Spielfeld/Šentilj Slovenian-Austrian border, where the legal framework is the most uncertain. Because of this people are trapped between borders, where they are denied of any aid, whether clothing, blankets, food or tea. Mostly only the self-organized volunteers/activist are handing such aid through the fence to people, where different stories are comming from them about the NGO’s. The latter are preventing them to do this, even though, what is proved by the activists at the borders, the NGO’s have alot of humanitarian aid at their warehouses which is not being destributed. NGO representatives are saying that it has to be equally distributed, otherwise it is a danger people will fight each other for food and blankets. The aim here is not to discredit the NGO’s, as they helped and are helping with the humanitarian aid, but to produce a call for them, that there are alot of holes everywhere that they don’t see or deliberately ignore. The other important thing is not to view the incoming people as somekind of barbarians that would fight for bits of food if it is unequally distributed. Precisely such discourse shows the latent xenophobia within the liberal humanitarian discourse.

The incoming people are far from that, as they have, along with the volunteers and activist, showed huge mutual solidarites and power to change and destroy the borders. Yes, there are individual or groups conflicts, but there will be more if people will be put in the concentration camp- or. lager-like conditions. We must not help the states and its repressive organs to manage the so called official corridors which are dehumanizing people to non-beings, but demand open borders for everyone so we can start to build a common Europe and world for everyone.

Useful thing for the incomming people:

http://www.refugeecompass.com/making-the-journey.html

Carterro (http://www.carterro.com/) is an app to assist with making the long journey.  It uses map based data and experiences of other refugees travels along the route.  Please note that detail in Carterro is for the Middle East only.

Updates on the Balkan route: https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=zJggLarUzmHE.kdSUXTxZDCm4

On October 15 2015 Hungary finally decided to close its border passage Botovo with Croatia, where the “more formal  coridor” for the flow of people, temporary established by inter-governmental agreements, took place, changing the direction of the so called balkan route. Instead of going through Croatia to Hungary the route is redirected to Slovenia, where people are registered, before taken to Austrian border (slov. Šentilj/ ger. Spielfeld).

Info: use map for traveling through Slovenia.

Activist which are at the Slovenian borders and registration camps are reporting, that the authorities are taking fingerprints from the incoming people at the Gruškovje registration camp, but not at Petišovci. This information is not entirely clear, but it is worth to take into account that your fingerprints can be sent to EURODAC. Because of this, predominantly non-Syrians, can be effected by the Dublin convention – this means: if you claim asylum in other EU country, they can return you to Slovenia.

Who can be affected:

• your fingerprints were taken in another country (and stored on a common European database called EURODAC)
• you admit that you have been to, or travelled through, another country, even if you didn’t give your fingerprints
• it can be shown by some other source of evidence that you have been to, or travelled through another country
• it can be shown that you were previously issued a visa for an EU country
• you tell the authorities that you wish to join your spouse, who is an asylum seeker or a refugee in another country

In case this happens to you and if you are non-Syrian citizen, you will need legal aid.

Situation in Slovenia (18.10.2015), reports from activists:

Our group on the field successfully set up an Info point in Petišovci. It is located next to the big registration tent. The situation regarding the access to the registration centres is varying. While there were no bigger problems in Petišovci, nobody external was allowed to enter the registration centre in Središče ob Dravi.

The other type of centres are accommodation centres. One is located in Šentilj (Spielfeld), the other in Gornja Radgona. These ones are being used at the moment, there are roughly about 20 more all over Slovenia which can be used if needed. These are being managed by the Civil Protection (Civilna zaščita), while the registration centres are being managed by the police. In addition to the registration centres in Petišovci and Središče ob Dravi there are more registration centres in Obrežje, Gruškovje and Dolga vas.

It seems the access to both types of centres might become an issue. Volunteers would be able to enter the accommodation centres via the Slovene Philanthropy and NGO Adre. This does not apply for the registration centres, where the access is even more restricted.

Based on the conversations with the refugees they mostly need information and the possibility to communicate. They fear what fingerprinting them means, whether it serves as a ground for deportation, they don’t know where they are and would like to inform their families regarding their situation. There’s no wifi network, chargers, multiple socket outlets, etc. in none of the centres. The medical staff in Petišovci complains that they aren’t allowed to hand out warm milk to the kids. One Austrian group offered to cook tea, with hesitation the head of the Red Cross agreed. This group already leaves today.

In short, the government agencies are declining external independent help. As a result of their limited capacities regarding the reception of refugees the flow has been slowed down, so they get stuck on the Balkan route, subjected to the cold and abuse and being blocked to to leave hazardous zones.

Some information from Gruškovje:

// 23.28 //
The police demands we have to wake up all people so they can count them. They want them all awake and standing together. Some are walking around with flashlights and are waking up the people. I had to leave because I can’t stand it any more. The ambulance came, they stepped on the bus because a woman needed urgent help. On the way to the bus the medical staff spotted a sleeping person who looked dead. He threw a blanket back over him and said ‘somebody forgot the trash’. Just now volunteers from Switzerland and Murska Sobota (Slovenia) arrived, UNHCR miraculously disappeared.

The bus is crowded, they allow only Syrians to pass. A third bus arrived, the police is shouting like crazy. Police: “YOU’RE ALL BROTHERS, MOTHERFUCKERS!”

// 22:30 //
UNHCR forbid distribution of food and water, which is not theirs. They decided this after volunteers started to bring food/water. Before that they didn’t make a problem. However, it seems that this has forced them to finally distribute water in the camp, which they had not done the entire day.

This is the common attitude of the EU, state authorities and also official NGO’s (predominantly UNHCR and Red Cross) towards people fleeing persecution and searching better life in the EU.

Slovenian interior ministry announced that it will let daily only 2500 people through its territory to Austria – this also means that when enough people leave Slovenia new people will be transported from Croatian borders to Slovenian registration camps (they are transported by buses from the borders). They also said that Austria is accepting only 1500 people per day (source: Slovenian national media (http://www.rtvslo.si/slovenija/slovenija-za-danes-koncala-sprejem-prebeznikov-v-cakovec-vlak-s-1-200-ljudmi/376584), but these news were just recently falsified by the Austrian Amnesty International which said that the upper gap for letting people through Austria is not 1500, as claimed Slovenian interior minister. This part, however, remains unclear, as some Austrian media (e.g. http://derstandard.at/2000024097298/Fluechtlinge-Unterschiedliche-Angaben-von-Slowenien-und-Oesterreich) are confirming Slovenian interior ministry’s words that Austria allows only 1500 people through Slovenian border per day.

Because of this activists from the borders are reporting:

‘Bottlenecks and additional shocks are already happening in Croatia:Macedonia and Serbia are advised to prepare accordingly as Slovenia is letting refugees pass but ONLY 2500per day. On the other hand, the number of refugees crossing Greece and Macedonia remains around 5000 to 7000…Where will they go? Except for increased humanitarian relief, we MUST be prepared for joint pressure and even physical presence at the Croatian border if needed‘

This means that if Slovenia is registering such a small amount of people per day, the numbers of people can increase on the other Balkan borders or camps e.g. at Greek, Macedonian, Serbian and Croatian.

Also some solidarity is needed on Lesbos, Greece, with the Autonomous Initiative for Solidarity with Refugees/Migrants (old information):

The authorities of Lesbos threaten people in solidarity!

On Sunday 11 October 2015, the municipal authorities of Lesbos, more specifically deputy mayor Giorgos Katzanos, in charge of sanitation and garbage disposal on the island, and Giorgos Saroglos, spokesman for the village of Skala Sykaminia, threatened us concerning the structures erected on the beach and ordered us to remove them. They actually gave us a deadline of one week; otherwise they threaten to evict us by force.
Today local residents confirmed that this evacuation is to go ahead. While it is also known that the Golden Dawn member of parliament Lagos is visiting the island this weekend, we were given to understand that this is likely to take place in Skala Sykaminia under escort of the fascists.
The project was formed and consolidated two weeks ago by a number of people in solidarity and groups of several different nationalities, many of whom will be here on Sunday. We call on all those who support solidarity with the refugees on the island to come to the structures of the Autonomous Solidarity Initiative this evening, Saturday, to oppose the authorities’ plans and to confront whatever may arise.
We are here because we uphold the political position of displaying solidarity with the refugees/migrants. Any threat to us is a threat to refugees/migrants.

Email: solidarity.refugees.athens@gmail.com

(There is no most recent information about the happening there)

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Important tip for activists/volunteers going to the borders to help: you will usually need to register with the local NGO or humanitarian organization, which is already there or your access will be likely denied by the authorities.

More information on the Serbian/Croatian/Slovenian/Hungarian borders – follow: http://pastebin.com/wtnWbKkf

https://www.facebook.com/Protirasisti%C4%8Dna-fronta-brez-meja-962830080456004/  (Information in the English language is always bellow)

Some other information about the balkan route (prices etc.): https://docs.google.com/document/d/1fZlNfQkC3EFLrjAuszFm-fjuDDVNvtfcyqb0bfDtpa4/edit?pli=1

All information will be first-hand and forwarded from the groups of activists and volunteers (from sites such as Anti-Racist Front Without Borders from Slovenia, Open Borders Caravan that are located on the borders. The aim of the Border monitoring is not only to report on happening on mentioned borders and to give coordinates for the humanitarian aid, but also to make the recent flow of people (what the EU, its member states and mainstream media calls ‘refugee crisis’) a politically relevant question which adresses the discriminatory and xenophobic imigration and asylum policies within the EU, as well as its connection with the neoliberal developments. Open borders for all!

First post will outline the thoughts by some activists from the Anti-Racist Front Without Borders (Slovenia), who were in the past month present at the Slovenian, Macedonian, Serbian, Croatian and Hungarian borders.

Dramaturgy of safe corridor through the Balkans

At the moment borders and other points on the refugee route through the Balkans offer a quite different sight than the one from not a long time ago. Blocked borders, self-organized refugee camps at the train stations and around border crossings and occasional police violence gave way to the non-declared corridor of safe passage and for some time now reports about police violence remain practically absent. True, Hungarian governement due to the perceived needs of its domestic audience is still staging a show “heavily armed guardian od the Schengen border” and yet it is itself fully cooperating with the police forces of neighbouring countries in organising the transfer of thousands of people through the country. After initial disagreements between various Balkans’ states, non-coordinated responses and a certain degree of improvization – the latter was characteristic for Slovenia – European Union has by now managed to establish a unified and controled regime of management of people at practically the whole territory of the Balkans.

 From afar, but also from up close, it seems at the moment that the agenda of refugees in fact overlaps with the agenda of the states that they are travelling through and of their police forces: people want to go to Europe which the respective states now do not only accept – they actively organize their journey through the Balkans. And yet this conclusion makes sense only if we focus exclusively on the fact that people indeed do move in an organized manner from point A to point B. But when the experience of refugees’ journey is taken into account in all its modalities it aquires a distinctly sinister character.

 An ever present theme in the reports of activists that are present on the ground on the borders and in centres in Macedonia, through Serbia, Croatia and Hungary is a very sophisticated dramaturgy and scenography of the refugee journey through the Balkans: always there is a need to hurry; often the travelling is by night; there are never enough beds, never enough toilets; uncertainty reigns as there are never clear guarantees or information about whether the buses will be there or not; there is no opportunity to rest, think, share, talk; police lights pierce the sky and forests; all the rain and mud; mouldy bread; ban on warm food; power generators and warm beds for the police, damp covers for the rest; riot police uniforms reflections in the night; hurried night marches across the bridges and through the forests; barbed wire. All these images and body moves and affects fuel the continuous sensation of an assembly line. People do move to their desired destination and yet the possibility to really influence the dynamics of their journey is taken away from them. This dehumanization is complemented by the perverse command of thankfulness which the refugees are obliged to feel in relation to the bureaucrats that are masterminding a regime of their hierarchical inclusion in our communities.

 Enough has been said about the deeply problematic role of humanitarian organizations on the ground that in many locations have hardly been doing much more besides just being there. Throughout the Balkans the important humanitarian efforts are being organized by self-organized volunteers from all corners of Europe. But what more could be the role of the activists, that is to say of those that find themselves in this situation not as refugees but as all those other people that are striken by processes of capitalist devastaton in a very personal way and are dedicated to practically organise solidarity wih our new neighours and colleagues?

 How can we prevent that the journey of refugees to Europe would end in their separation from the society and in imposed weakness that comes with it? How can a journey of refugees to Europe end up increasing thepower of the refugees themselves and of all of us that are their supporters and not in further boosting of the power of border agencies and population management bureaucracy? This is a challenge that many people from open borders caravans , volunteers at the borders and elsewhere are faced with today.

 As we reflect on the already relatively consolidated situation across the Balkans we can already recognize the contours of a new regime that will be unveiled in its fullness at the moment when now open borders will be shut down. Then we wil be left with increasingly militarized outside border of European union and a consolidation of some form of buffer-zone in the territories of Serbia, Macedonia and maybe Croatia, Hungary and – why not – Slovenia. And with tens of thousands of “stranded foreigners” within this zone. Thus a new phase of crisis of Europe will be inaugurated that will further fertilize already fertile ground for the spread of ideas of hate and agression.

 This is why it is a task of an utmost importance to construct naratives that will enable us, the precarious, unemployed, poor, youth without future, potential emigrants, us that are on so many different levels ourselves already targets of terror of capitalist devastation, to build together with the refugees the political, discursive and physical spaces of resistance against the same terror. Together. Brake down the borders, build the power.

(source: http://komunal.org/teksti/271-zlovesca-dramaturgija-balkanske-poti)

Preševo (Macedonian-Serbian border) this Saturday (10.10.2015) updated (18.10.2015)

Article about happening at Preševo – http://gauge-mag.com/reports/presevo-this-shouldnt-be-our-job/#jp-carousel-675

Useful Links:

Refugee Help Map (Border monitoring, where the help is most needed. Useful information: activists are the most needed during weekdays) – https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=zddfRUtGScOc.kQBgTQcoV5FM&hl=en_US