Quelle: Sky News

A Syrian asylum seeker tells Sky News he was left in a neck brace after being attacked by Macedonian border guards.

By John Sparks, Sky News Correspondent, on the Macedonian border

Mustafa can barely move

The Syrian asylum seeker was on the receiving end of a serious beating and the Damascus native now finds himself confined to a hospital ward in northern Greece.

The damage is indisputable. He has a brace clasped round his neck after suffering a suspected fracture – and when I helped him pull up his jumper, his back was marked with bright purple bruises.

He says Macedonian police and soldiers are responsible for the beating – personnel charged with defending a newly-built double fence-line on the Greek border.

„They asked me if I was thirsty and I answered, ‚yes, of course I am thirsty‘,“ he said.

„While he was hitting me he was talking to me. ‚I will give you a drink,‘ he said, ‚you know what you are going to drink?‘ He meant his urine.“

Europe’s new barrier was thrown-up after Macedonia and a group of nine other central European governments decided to drastically reduce the number of migrants and refugees they were prepared to let in.

A small number of Syrians and Iraqis are permitted to pass through every day and Mustafa’s number was called on Thursday night. He said he was immediately ushered into a portable cabin on the Macedonian side of the line.

„They said, ‚you, go to that room‘. I thought it was routine procedure – but I had to take off my clothes – even my underwear.

„Then, I was hit in the stomach and, because he was a huge, I flew into the corner. They attacked me and I knew that if I shouted, they would hit me more. I tried to cry in silence.“

Mustafa says he was targeted by police because he participated in a series of protests held in a makeshift refugee camp on the Greek side of the border.

One protest turned violent last week, when a group of migrants tried to force their way past the main gate.

„I was not protesting for me but for everyone,“ he said. „The camp holds 850 but there are 14,000 in here now. They have to open up the border a bit to take the pressure off this place.“

According to the young Syrian, the officer in charge on Thursday night accused him of ‚gesturing‘ towards him.

„The officer told me, ‚you were the one who was pointing at me with your hand‘, but I said it was not me. Then he opened the video that he had been filming and I saw the one pointing at him but it was not me.“

The injured migrant says he was „beaten in shifts“, then ordered back to Greece with a warning,

„The last thing I was told before I was sent back to Greece was, ‚if you speak I kill you‘,“ he said.

Sky News spoke to another refugee in northern Greece – a young Iraqi – who says he was beaten by police at the same time.

He has suffered extensive injuries but did not wish to be filmed.

The United Nations Refugee Agency told us they are very concerned about the allegations.

„We are seeing more and of these allegations … there are people who are bruised and marked and shaken by these incidents,“ said UNHCR spokesman Babar Baloch.

„We had someone in our office just yesterday. This needs to be looked into, in terms of finding out what is happening.“

There seems little prospect of that however.

Tonight the Macedonian government denied the allegations, calling them „lies“.

A spokeswoman said their personnel operate at the highest professional level.