Known for being a key point on the Balkan route for people on the move, northern Serbia underwent changes since late October 2023 for those seeking a better life in Europe. A shooting between smugglers took place in the Horgos area, marking the beginning of an unprecedented special police operation. Since then, there was a clear increase of violent evictions at the temporary squats where people on the move would shelter waiting for an attempt to cross into Hungary. These photographs show the conditions in which refugees had to live and how these settlements were left after the evictions.
These evictions resulted into the forced displacement of hundreds of people to reception centers in southern Serbia, shutting down the ones closer to the border. NGOs in the field ensured that “where there used to be hundreds of people, there are no one left now.”
Far from being peaceful, people on the move were violently evicted and belongings such as telephones, documents or clothes were taken from them. At the already evicted sites, smashed telephones could be seen as well as suitcases and personal belongings destroyed in a clearly intentional manner. On top of that, many of these temporary living sites had been destroyed or even burned making it even more difficult to survive there in any form.
Reports by humanitarian NGOs in the field, such as @collectiveaidorg also denounced the physical violence that migrants have suffered at the hands of the Serbian police when these evictions were carried out.
These photographs were taken during the month of December, 2023 working along with Collective Aid NGO based in Subotica, Northern Serbia.
