Warren Richardson Images

Crossing the border.


Over the course of five days on the border of Serbia and Hungary, I witnessed some 20,000 people from Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Africa, Bangladesh, Iran and Nepal, cross the border. There were men, women and children, amputees, the sick, all with stories to tell about where they had come from and where they wanted to go. One night in particular was a night that I would never forget. There was a group of Syrians hiding amongst the apple trees on the Serbian side of the border with Hungary, their challenge was to put as many people under the newly constructed razor wire fence. In the group there were some ten engineers that had taken a good look at the fence to see where they could cross so that they could get as many of their friends and family members into Hungary.

Like a finely tuned machine, they played cat and mouse with the Hungarian police. The police would come and go from near where the Syrian group was hiding. Each time the police showed up, they would try to fix the fence so that people would not go under. But each time the police would leave, the Syrian engineers would make another hole so that they could help as many people as possible get under the fence. The police continually returned to the same spot, but this time they were a little more verbal and angry. The police attempted to fix the new holes that the Syrian engineers had made. The police were yelling into the darkness in broken English, 'do not come illegally into Hungary, go away we do not want you here, if we catch you, you will be arrested.' They proceeded to spray pepper everywhere to prevent anyone from using this particular spot. Again the police moved on to check other areas they were having problems with. Once again the Syrian engineers, with tears in their eyes from the pepper spray, created another hole in the fence to allow more people to move forward into Hungary to get to Germany, as this is where they desperately wanted to be. Four hours on from when they started, they had helped more than 200 people go under the razor wire fence. Once everyone had passed under the fence, the Syrian engineers said their last good byes to me, and left as they were the last ones to go into the darkness of the night.

Refugees make their way along the 2km stretch of an old  abandoned railroad towards the Hungarian border of Roszke.

Syrian men look for possibilities of entering Hungary to avoid being processed.

Helping their own, they call for as many to come so that they can enter Hungary by going under the razor wire fence.

A young Syrian girl waits for her father on the Hungarian side of the fence.

With very little time as the Hungarian police patrol the border fence, refugees pass under the fence.

Hearts pumping as they cross into Hungary.

Whilst some took their chances in going under the razor wire fence, many others succumb to going the way authorities preferred.

For most Refugees there biggest fear was to be finger printed and photographed in a country they did not want to stay in, arriving in Hungary along a old abandoned rail road track that separated Hungary from Serbia the refugees came in there thousands undeterred by the obstacles that lay before them, for most refugees it was determination that was driving them, the determination to get as far away from the horrors of war, persecution, slavery, and rape, Families came with only the most important things they could carry, that being there children. For most of the refugees they had to sell and liquidate most of there assets to turn it into money so that they could move and move quickly, but some they did not realize that the hospitality of some of the countries that they would pass through would not be so hospitable, stories of high prices shops charging double the amounts of what they normally would charge, people smugglers take money from war torn desperate people whilst police and authorities would turn a blind eye to what was going on around them.

Waiting patiently to board buses to take them to camps so that they can be processed.

A woman struggles to stand upright as she waits for hours to board a bus.

Hungarian police jam as many on the bus as they possibly can, as a result of exhaustion some would fall asleep the moment they sat down once they where on the bus.

Muslim women wait with their children on the side of the road for the next bus to take them to the camp to be processed by Hungarian authorities.

Hungarian prime minister Victor Orban gave the go ahead for the fence at Rouszke Hungarian border of Serbia to be finished on the 15th of September at midnight, 1000's on Sunday night crossed the border to enter Hungary and the EU, Hungarian Police calmly

Buses leave for the camps whilst more people show up.

The Hungarian army is called in to help patrol the border fence at Roszke.

Signs that war does exists as a man makes his way along the train tracks. Rubbish scatted everywhere allowing this man to know that he is going the right way.

Refugees from Afghanistan reach the Hungarian border with their children in hand, whilst local Hungarian people greet them with food and water as a sign of the Hungarian hospitality.

Roszke's make shift camp, tents as far as the eye can see. The tent transit zone for weary travelers exhausted from traveling so far without food and sleep.

Overworked and underpaid, Hungarian police worked around the clock to help process the overwhelming amount of refugees that were passing through the unofficial border at Roszke.

With the watchful eyes of the police, a disabled African woman is helped onto a bus.

Police take their positions on the unofficial border at Roszke to stop refugees from passing through as the Goverment of Hungary states that all refugees must use proper borders to enter Hungary.

The last piece of the border fences makes its way to the unofficial border crossing to finish the border fence.

With the unofficial border now closed between Serbia/Horgos and Hungary/Roszke, refugees make their way to the official border with the intention of passing through peacefully, thousands made their way to the Horgos/Roszke border.

With no idea of what was going on, refugees were confronted with a closed gate at the border and a wall of police, with no interpreters to let the refugees know what the next step they should take. The refugees became extremely frustrated by the sheer fact of not knowing what they are meant to be doing.

Frustration soon turned into anger as Hungarian police started using tear gas and water cannons to deter the refugees from entering Hungary.

With the smell of pepper spay lingering in the air, refugees start to become even more angry as they gesture with there hands to the police.

Some of the refugees realized that they were getting nowhere by being angry, so instead they tried to pacify the situation by standing between the Hungarian police and the angry asylum seekers to try and calm the situation.

Asylum seekers and refugees attempt to break through the fence at Horgos and Roszke border so that they can enter Hungary.

Hungarian police reinforcements line up as the problem escalate.

With the border fence now broken and forced open by the refugees, they enter into Hungary slowly.

As a show of goodwill, Syrian and Afghani men attempt to clean up the mess that they had made, whilst others screamed out from behind them "Do not throw anything at the police.

Syrian man pleads with others to go back as Hungarian police stand their ground.

The father of a young Syrian girl pleads the Hungarian police to let her through so that she can be seen by a doctor as the father tells the police that she is sick. The police allow her to pass through but just her only. The father asks them if he can go with her as she will be scared if left on her own, but the police declined, the father's other children come over towards the police line of shields. The father yet again asks, please just allow my children to be together this way they will feel safe with one another, yet again the police declined.

All of a sudden screams rang out as the Hungarian police and the Hungarian special unit (TEK) started charging towards the refugees. I remember looking down to see one of the Syrian father's children screaming in fear. I tried to reach out to grab her but from behind me I felt the shields of the police pushing me, then out of know where I was being hit in the left hand side of my body by a baton. Next thing I was being grabbed by the throat and continuously stabbed in the left hand side of my body, the person behind me that was hitting me then proceeded to throw me to the ground where he continued to kick me in the back of the head. I turned to face him and said to him, 'I am no threat to you so can you please stop hitting me please.' He stopped and looked up at his friend that was coming in from behind me, then he kicked the back of the head and tried to stand on my cameras to break them.

I was picked up off the ground and escorted into the Hungarian side of the border. The riot police officer that was escorting me simply told me to make my way towards the Hungarian side. Not knowing what I was meant to be doing I just started photographing as they never handcuffed me.

I spent the next 24 hours being detained.

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