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Old 1900s trains a being prepared to be buried as the Eagle Hills project moves forward.
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The train yard was built in the 1940s during the Second World War by the German army as a supply depot to resupply front lines. Dilapidated and vacant the old buildings soon turned into a make shift refugee camp that so took the name as the Belgrade Barracks.
There are about 7,000 people left in Serbia. Most of them (95% according to UNHCR estimates) are accommodated in reception and transit centres. Many left over a year ago from their countries of origin – Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan – and found themselves stuck along the Balkan route. They cannot go to Hungary, as since the beginning of March every asylum seeker is detained until their application is examined. They cannot go to Croatia either, as every person trying to pass the border illegally is systematically rejected, including with violence. And going back is unthinkable.
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Some 3000 men at all ages used the Belgrade Barracks as a transit zone to try their luck at making it to Western Europe to seek a much more better life financially.
Remaining in Serbia, however, is an unattractive option – the possibility of applying for asylum only exists on paper, and Serbian authorities do little to create an effective asylum system. Migrants themselves, on the other hand, do not appear interested in seeking asylum in Serbia.
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Men wake up to a new day in a smoked filled building.
So they remain, suspended in time and space, in a state of semi-illegality, waiting for something to change. Meanwhile, discomfort begins to spread, mainly among the people most worn out by the journey. In this scenario, the only hope to move forward lies the traffickers, the šverceri, who are making a goldmine out of the closing of the borders.
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A group of men cook in the middle of one of the buildings using old train sleepers to stoke the fire so that they can cook and to keep warm, unfortunately, the train sleepers when installed where laced in arsenic and cyanide to help preserve.
At some point, a few days ago, someone in Belgrade's power circles ordered the demolition of the shacks. And the order must have come from really high places: the staff of the Commissariat for Refugees and Migration was present in mass to inform the occupants of the shacks, and places were immediately available across the various reception centres in the country. The clearance itself, initially scheduled for the second half of May, was unexpectedly anticipated, creating great psychological pressure for the occupants themselves, who woke up one morning with the municipal staff spraying disinfectant as they were told to clear the shacks at the earliest and without ceremonies. Rough methods, but without violence.
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Men and boys eat together to discuss plans on how they will get to Western Europe.
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A man sits amongst the mayhem of dust and dirt and rats, that continually sneak in and steal food from the refugee men. Men suffer with mental issues due to depression. Some have tried and failed by trying to cross into Western Europe only to end up back in the Belgrade Barracks.
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For the majority of the men in the camp, the Belgrade Barracks is only a pit stop, something they consider not to call home, due to the unhuman conditions.
The occupants of the shacks were immediately transferred to neighbouring centres, including Obrenovac, Krnjaca (near Belgrade), or towards the border with Hungary, in newly-built centres funded by the EU and the UNHCR. Conditions in the centres, though not optimal, are incomparably better than in the shacks.
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Using what they can find and utilising things so that they can still have a small amount of dignity when it comes to cleaning themselves as showers and cleanliness are totally non-existent within the camp.
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Utilising dilapidated train carriages as accommodation.
Centres are semi-open, i.e. people are not subject to a detention regime. One wonders why the Serbian government did not provide for the total clearance of the shacks in January, when it was most needed given the polar temperatures, and only proceeded now, following orders as imperative as mysterious.
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Refugee men wash themselves in the middle of the rail yard in the winter to wash away the nights burning of chemical laden wood.
The Serbian government, during the crisis along the Balkan route, had always maintained a policy of accepting refugees, at the same time requiring the financial assistance of European institutions to accommodate and feed about 6,000 people. Somehow Serbia, always worried about the negative image from the conflicts of the 1990s, wanted to exploit the refugee crisis to revive its international image as a tolerant, civil country.
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Some men live in some of the builder sheds that are on the Eagle Hills land. With some of the water mains exposed, men take advantage by using the water to clean themselves and brush their teeth.
Therefore, the January scenes and the negative media campaign pushed the Serbian government to act. In few days, decommissioned barracks in Obrenovac were reconfigured and about 900-1000 people were transferred there, where they could have hot meals, sanitation, and medical care. Nevertheless, the barracks continued to host 500-600 people.
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Men rest preparing for the night ahead as most of them will try to cross in to Western Europe.
With temperatures rising and media attention declining, the clearing of the shacks slowed down. New humanitarian organisations came to downtown Belgrade and the situation gradually improved, although conditions remained very problematic. Gradually, the number of occupants grew again, back over one thousand.
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A group of refugees make their way out of an old brick factory where they spent the night after making their way from the Belgrade Baracks the day before.
However, everybody knew that the situation was temporary, as the first towers of the Belgrade Waterfront, the ambitious and controversial urbanistic project that could radically change the area in a few years, loomed over the shacks.
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Two boys embrace after coming back from the Hungarian border where their friend died by trying to cross the Danube river in the middle of winter. The boy died due to trying to cross the icy river, unfortunately, the ice cracked, and the young man fell through and drowned underneath the ice sheet.
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Preparing for the night ahead after traveling from the Belgrade Barracks. Men wait for a people smuggler to take them over the border into Western Europe.
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Men lay in a field,
Running in the darkness towards the Hungarian border refugee men wait as on going Hungarian patrols past, the full moon appears through broken clouds lighting up a path to the border fence. Nervously waiting as the timing needs to be perfect for the window of opportunity. A man appears from the darkness, one of the refugee men recognises him, the men gather in a circle, as money is exchanged to the man that has just turned up revealing his purpose as a people smugglers. With no doubt, the people smuggler suggests Indicates that they must go immediately as the Hungarian patrols are quite frequent. In a Cloud of dust, the men start to move.
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Refugee men make their way over part of the border fence heading into Western Europe in what they call freedom. 3 days later i received a message from one of the men telling me that he had made it to Germany.