Pushed back from Evros Region M.A. (24 years old), from Eritrea160/ pushed back from Evros in May 2013 M.A.: (...) The first time I was pushed back was in May. We were lost in the woods. The first night we slept in the woods and the second we walked again and reached some fields. (…) After having crossed these fields, we found ourselves in the woods again. (…) The Syrians that were with us decided to go on the main street. After one bridge there was a furrow, from where water was pouring out. It was around 3-4 o’clock in the afternoon. We found a tavern and we let our bags and went inside. The owner kicked us out and said: ‘No water, no food’. He called the police and told us to wait. He brought us to a place walking for a while in front of us. It looked like a military camp. We asked if the police station was there and the soldiers told us it was somewhere nearby. We were walking in groups of 3-4 persons. Then a police car came. (…) There were two men, who asked us how we came to Greece, how we crossed the borders, how much money we paid, who was the smuggler, from which part of the river we had passed… They didn’t write down anything, they were just listening. Someone from our group spoke good English. Then a van came and they put us all inside. They called someone and went back to the city. (…) They took us to a police station. There was wired fence around and there were three jeeps, looking the same, parked inside this space. They seemed to be new. There were four men. They looked like soldiers. One had long hair. There was a small room, which had a table in the middle. Two of them were not Greeks, because they talked in English with the Greek police officers. These two told us to put our money and our mobiles on the table. The one with the long hair spoke in English with the police and then the Greek police yelled at us and they made us throw our things in the garbage. They are always looking to take the money. They took 200 dollars from N.’s wife. N. hid my mobile in his underwear. His wife had theirs. (…) They wore boots and clothes, that don’t look like the ones the Greek police wear. They took two of us each time in the room and told us to take all of our clothes off. They told me to turn around. They looked at us, as we were turning around. Then they told us to put our clothes on. The ones who body searched us and asked us to take our clothes off, were foreigners. They didn’t find any money on me, so they looked in my shoes. They slapped me and then handcuffed me. The one with the long hair, was around 40 years old and very tall. He was blonde, with long hair, but had no hair in the front, like a deep forehead. That day I think they earned around 11.000 dollars. They found my mobile in N.s underwear and beat him. They searched his shoes and found 700 dollars. They punched and kicked him. We were not in the same pair of people who entered in that room with N. I tried to warn him, once I came out, but they didn’t let me look and alert him. There was a woman police officer. I don’t know if she was Greek. She asked N.’s wife to take her clothes off, but she didn’t want to. They called a man who first threatened and then forced her to take her clothes off. She was very scared. They also handcuffed her. When it got dark at around 9 in the evening, they put us back in the van and took us to the river. The four persons who had previously body searched us in the police station were already there. The place where they body searched us had no roof. You could see the red bricks and there were no windows. No toilet, no water, no food. They didn’t give us anything. It all lasted for three hours plus one hour in the car come and go. The river was 30 minutes away from where they kept us. When we got off the van we saw some people wearing full face masks. Their shirts had buttons and their clothes were dark. There was a slope we had to climb on with our hands handcuffed in the back. I hadn’t tied the shoelaces, so I slipped and fell down. When I fell, I had to return where the others were. They made us sit down. N.’s wife had her t-shirt moved and her shoulder out. So she asked the police officer to adjust it for her, because she was feeling uncomfortable. He slapped her and she hit her head on the car. One of the police vans was parked in front and we were made to sit behind so that nobody could notice us. I think the four had arrived with that car, in order to check whether they could push us back. They pushed back some guys from that point and then they put the others back in the van and brought us to another point. We were on the second route. We don’t know where they took us, but there was something like an islet there. We were in the boat for one hour. They took N.’s handcuffs off, so he cut those of the others as well. After two hours the Turks came. From where the Greeks left us until the Turkish camp it was one and a half hour distance. We told them that the Greeks pushed us back. The day after, they took us to the hospital and then transferred us to the camp in Edirne. We were released soon thereafter. 160 | Interviewed in Athens (Greece), August 19, 2013 56 | aNNEX-iNTERVIEWS aNNEX-iNTERVIEWS | 57