Important information when crossing into Austria and anti-pushback protests in Šid (Serbia)

An Austrian police officer officially stated on the TV news which questions are being asked at the Austrian registration center in Spielfeld.

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!

Important information when crossing into Austria and anti-pushback protests in Šid (Serbia)

An Austrian police officer officially stated on the TV news which questions are being asked at the Austrian registration center in Spielfeld.

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!

The self-organized refugee squat Orfanotrofeio in Thessaloniki

Credit: Črna luknja

Credit: A-Radio Berlin *English, * German, * Spanish translation

The following audio is a recording made by activists of the self-organized refugee squat Orfanotrofeio in Thessaloniki, Greece. This material has been made available to us by our comrades at Črna Luknja, the anarchist radio show at Radio Študent in Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia.

European bordezones update

Important:

#‎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 ///

(Possible) Enactment of EU’s policies of “slowing down” the movement flows

European’s Unions recent plans to manage the movement of people by slowing the flows at the so called ‘Balkan route‘ is apparently taking its first steps. To not enter the abstract theoretical discussions let us qoute the information posted from the Anti-racist Front Without Borders (17.11.2015), gathered by the activists and volunteers at the borders:

”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.”

Important: Slovenia starts erecting barbed wire!

(Foto: BoBo, MMC)

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.

‘No-mans land’

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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.

Dobova lager (Croatian-Slovenian border)

This video was taken in Dobova (Slovenia) a few days ago. This is not just a sole example of the mistreatment of the incoming people. The situations in camps change through days – sometimes they are empty and next day filled with new people arriving from Croatia.

The situation at Šentilj/Spielfeld (Slovenian-Austrian border) is different, as people often get trapped in ‘no-mans land’ between Slovenian and Austrian borders, while waiting for the permission to cross the border. ‘Officially’ people have the possibility to stay in camps, but due to the lack of information, it is often though that waiting at the ‘no-mans land’ will result in the quicker crossing of the border. This often develops in the long hour waiting in the cold weather.

We must demand open borders for everyone!

Ljubljana calling! Call for international meeting, manifestation and solidarity action in Slovenia

Transnational meeting in Ljubljana against the militarization of Slovenian borders

Fronta brez Meja, Anti-Racist Front Without Borders is organizing a manifestation in Ljubljana on Saturday 31 of October, 11am in Tovarna Rog, Trubarjeva 72 and calling everyone to participate in a transnational meeting and manifestation against the militarization of Slovenian borders and the attempts of the EU to break the movement of refugees and migrants.

Reestablishing state of exception in the EU and a call for international meeting, manifestation and solidarity action in Slovenia

Rigonce, Slovenian-Croatian border 21.10.2015

#Rigonce 21.10.2015

In the last week, since the Hungary closed its borders, Slovenia became the ‘new hotspot’ for the so called Balkan route, where people, who traveled from Serbia or Croatia to Hungary, were forced to change their direction of traveling to their desired situations.

In the last post we talked about the hypocrisy of the seeming humanitarian and ‘open’ Western European countries, since in the recent political assemblies at the European Commission it is becoming apparent that the EU is trying to hold people at its external borders or just let inside the desired amount of people, whether those needed for the labor markets or ”those who really need the international protection”.