Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 16th of September 2022
Case name: 2022_09_16-Eastern Med – 1007
Situation: 3 people violently pushed back to Turkey in the Evros region, near Protokklisi
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Eastern Med – Evros Region

Summary of the Case:
During the afternoon of September 16th, relatives inform us about three people, a woman with a broken leg and two others, who were near Protokklisi and calling for help. We manage to reach the people who told us they were afraid, as they had already pushed back a week ago. At 16:11 CEST, we inform authorities, Frontex, UNHCR and various NGO’s about the distress situation. After that, we are unable reach the people again. We called different border guard stations, but for hours could not reach anybody. At 20:28 CEST, we talk to an officer of the Orestiada border guard station who notes the location and promises to send a team to the position. The next morning a relative informs us that the people were found by Greek authorities and violently pushed back: «The Greek police took them and hurt them a lot, then they took their bags and phones and took them back to the Turkish border and they are now trying to return to Istanbul.» And so it is cleat that another violent pushback happened.