Photo: Alarm Phone
In the past months, Alarm Phone received many calls from the Evros/Meriç region by people on the move being stranded in Greek territory. Most of these cases ended with heavy violence, robbery and illegal pushbacks by Greek authorities. Frontex, UNHCR and others are silent bystanders.
In the morning of the 14th of May, we learned about a group of 7 people who were stuck in Greek territory near the Evros river. They were calling for help – one person reportedly had a broken leg and needed immediate medical assistance.
🆘in the #Evros region in #Greece. A group of 7 people is calling for help. One person has a broken leg and is in urgent need of medical assistance. We have informed @hellenicpolice and demand immediate help and #NoPushback! pic.twitter.com/RWsjVEJXbx
— @alarmphone (@alarm_phone) May 14, 2026
We informed local authorities, as well as Frontex and other organizations present in the region. We demanded immediate assistance for the group. In the following hours, we called different border guard stations. They either told us that they were not aware of the group or that they were looking for them but had not found them yet.
These were lies. Instead of help, only violence arrived.
Two days later, we managed to reach the group again only to find out that they were beaten, robbed and pushed back to Türkiye. The people reported that Greek units found them – most of which were masked – and that there was another group of people, reportedly migrants, who acted under the command of the Greek forces. The people we were in contact with got robbed, were forced into a car, brought to a police station and held there. After that, they were brought back to the river and pushed back to Türkiye – the place they tried to escape from.
UNHCR refuses to assist
On the 17th of June, we learned about a group of 6 people, including 3 minors stuck in the Evros region in Greek territory. Among them an elderly man, who reportedly had a broken leg. The people feared a pushback, but had to reach out to authorities as they could not move due to their injuries. Despite the risk, they saw no other option and called for urgent medical assistance.
We informed the local authorities about the whereabouts and names of the people. At the same time, we informed Frontex, UNHCR and various other organisations about the presence of the group, as we usually do when we send out alerts in this region. The local UNHCR mission refused to assist on the phone and did not, to our knowledge, undertake any steps to intervene in any meaningful way to prevent a pushback from happening.
We strongly denounce this level of violence at the borders of #FortressEurope. We condemn the system that enables this brutality & those who enforce it!
Instead we need #FreedomOfMovement for all!— @alarmphone (@alarm_phone) June 19, 2026
Among others, we called the border guard stations in Orestiada (aka Kyprinos) and Nea Vyssa and the Regional Centre for Border Management and Migration in Orestiada (PEKODISME).
Yet again: Instead of help, violence arrived.
At 18:44 CEST on the 17th of June, the people told us: «We are waiting», and added: «We are scared».
At 21:58 CEST the same day, an officer of PEKODISME confirmed to us that they had received our alert email and knew about the case. Again, he told us the same lie we were told many times before: They claimed to have searched the location but to have not found the group. The next day at 11:10 CEST, the people reported a group of masked men standing at the highway and looking for them. They saw 3 vehicles. And repeated: «We’re scared».
Videos showed the people in Greek territory, with Greek road signs visible in the background.
Around noon, a person from the group wrote us that the police had arrived and arrested them.
After that, the phone turned silent. In the late evening of the same day, we were informed that the people were badly beaten and illegally pushed back to Türkiye.
Again: Found, beaten and pushed back
On the 22nd of June, we were informed about another group of 8 people, including 5 children, which called for help from Greek territory, close to the Evros river. They could not continue, because a woman in the group was sick and could not walk.
We informed local authorities, as well es Frontex, UNHCR and other organisations about the group in distress and called for immediate assistance.
At 10:26 CEST, we called the Orestiada border guard station. The officer on the phone told us that they had been informed about the case and had already sent a patrol to look for the people.
We tweeted about the case:
🆘 from the #Evros region, #Greece. We informed @hellenicpolice about a group of 8 people. They reported a sick person & asked for an ambulance. The people said that police arrived, however authorities claim to have searched but not found them. We fear an illegal #pushback! pic.twitter.com/dI89vHecpc
— @alarmphone (@alarm_phone) June 22, 2026
As the group had not been offered help so far, we reached out to authorities again – and they again told us they will send a patrol car to look for the people. After that, the phones of the people went silent. We could not reach them anymore. We were worried and feared the worst.
We cannot reach the group & the family members are worried because they don’t know about their where-abouts. The local police stations either don’t pick up the phone, or tell us that they searched for the group but did not find them. We are worried that there was a #pushback!
— @alarmphone (@alarm_phone) June 23, 2026
And then we found out: Again, people were calling for help, but violence arrived.
Relatives of the people in the group reached out to us in anger and rage – and told us the people were found, beaten and pushed back. They called for all those responsible to be held accountable. We share their anger and rage and their call for accountability for the ones who commit these crimes against people on the move: Greek authorities and Frontex – but also UNHCR as a silent bystander.
30th of June, another crime by the Greek state
On the 30th of June, we were informed about 11 people stuck on an islet in the Evros river in Greek territory. They called for help and were in need of medical assistance, as one woman was bleeding and could not move any further. We forwarded the distress call and names of the people in the group to the authorities, Frontex, UNHCR, and many other organisations.
The people feared a pushback, but were in need of immediate help. Thus, they called authorities themselves as well, while we again called different police and border guard stations in the region. Authorities confirmed to us twice on the phone that they found the group. We hoped they would bring them to a safe place.
However, once again, the people who were calling for help, got violence instead.
On the 1st of July, we received a message from the people informing us they were violently pushed back to Türkiye. Another crime by the Greek state against people on the move that took place in plain sight, even after confirming that they had found the people.
Scared of violence – but called for help
On the 4th of July, we were informed about a group of 8 people who had been stranded in the forest for four days already. One of the young men had an amputated leg and they were calling for immediate medical assistance. They feared violence and pushbacks but nonetheless called the authorities.
We also informed the authorities about the distress and sent a list of names and mentioned the peoples’ intention to apply for asylum in Greece. Again, we included Frontex, UNHCR and other organisations in the email about the distress.
The people sent videos showing injured and severely exhausted people.
🆘️ from 8 young people stuck in the forest near Nea Vyssa, #Evros, #Greece for 4 days! We are in contact with the group who is very exhausted & afraid of a #pushback! Some of them are hurt & cannot continue. Local police is informed that they need urgent medical assistance. pic.twitter.com/dHicXjA4wi
— @alarmphone (@alarm_phone) July 4, 2026
We called various authorities, including one in Orestiada that told us that they had received our alert and sent a patrol to look for the group. Later in the day, PEKODISME also confirmed that they were aware of the case and let us know they would send a car to search for the group.
Again, instead of the help needed, violence arrived.
After several hours of silence, we found out on the 5th of July, that the group had been found, attacked and pushed back by Greek authorities. The people reported that they were back in Türkiye and ended up in the hospital.
Crimes against humanity on European soil
There were many more cases in this region in the past months. In many, we never found out what exactly happened, as we didn’t manage to re-establish contact with the people. We assume that thousands of people were pushed back in a similar way since the beginning of the year. Alarm Phone alone counts 32 cases since the beginning of the year; in most of these the people were either pushed back or we never found out what happened to them.
Organisations like Frontex and UNHCR are informed about ALL these cases. They cannot remain silent regarding these crimes, committed by their partners in front of their eyes. We demand immediate investigations into all these incidents.
We are angry and shocked by this heavy violence executed in plain public, under the eyes of Frontex and UNHCR and heavily funded by European money and legitimized by Europe’s political climate. These crimes are only possible, because European politics let them happen.
These are means of a fascist regime – these are crimes against humanity, committed on European soil.
We stand in solidarity with all the people on the move and strongly condemn the violence committed against them – in Greece and elsewhere.
Europe and Europe’s borders: You are a disgrace.
