guns and kicked them a lot, maybe eight or ten times. Each person got injured; one in the back, some in the neck, others in the leg.104 Fourteen-year-old Lal S. told Human Rights Watch that he had been beaten by coastguards off Lesvos Island at the end of 2007: “They kicked me in the head. I was dizzy. I fell down. I felt the first kick to my head and then I lost consciousness. The first kick was to the side of my head. I couldn’t see how the police kicked the others; three of them were my age and one was a year younger.”105 Sixteen-year-old Najib M. also remembered the date of his interception at sea and described the beatings: It was the night from May 19 to May 20.… We were about two hours away from Leros Island when we got arrested. They threw a rope down to us and told us to go onto their ship. When we got onto the ship they beat us. We fell into the sea. Then they threw the rope down again. Four times I tried to get onto the ship. My friends even more. When we wanted to climb onto the ship they kicked us with the boot and we fell down. They kicked me until I fell down. Then they threw the rope again. After we got onto the ship they beat us on the ship. My cousin got punched in his eye and he has problems until now…. He is 15 years old.… There were 10-12 police officers on the ship. It was a big ship…. They were in military clothes and had Kalashnikovs. All of them had the same uniform.106 Other unaccompanied children reported being subjected to beatings while coming into contact with police in other contexts. Fifteen-year-old Nurullah F., an asylum 104 Human Rights Watch interview with Abdul G., Athens, May 28, 2008. 105 Human Rights Watch interview with Lal S., Athens, May 27, 2008. 106 Human Rights Watch interview with Najib M., Patras, June 8, 2008. Left to Survive 38