‘Stop Pushbacks’

The photograph shows a slogan sprayed on the wall of an apartment building on Kassandrou Street at Mouschoundi Square in Ano Poli. The slogan ‘Stop Pushbacks’ condemns the practice of illegal refoulements to Turkey which have increased significantly since 2020. Specifically in Thessaloniki, there have been numerous reports of violent abductions and refoulements of migrants from the open reception facility in Diavata (former Anagnostopoulos army camp), a practice which became increasingly common during the lockdown period against the spread of COVID-19.

According to his testimony to Deutsche Welle, ‘on a Wednesday morning at the end of April, a police officer told Bakhtiar: “Come with us and we’ll get you new papers”. The 22-year-old man from Afghanistan thought this would be the key to making his dream of a new life in Europe come true. Two months earlier, he had managed to cross the river of Evros, the natural border between Greece and Turkey, and the most popular route through which refugees reach the European Union. Bakhtiar continued his journey to Diavata, outside of Thessaloniki, where the official refugee camp is located. Upon his arrival, he made sure to get the necessary official documents from the Greek police, the first step in the asylum application process. […]

Bakhtiar had been waiting anxiously for state services to reopen after the COVID-19 closures, so that he could apply for asylum. He never got the chance. Describing his run-in with the police in April, Bakhtiar told the DW that the police officers put him in a white van and took him to a police station at the centre of Thessaloniki. Instead of giving him new papers, as promised, the police took everything he had on him, including his phone. He was later moved to another police station where he claims the police officers slapped and kicked him. Within a few hours he was in a truck, its bed covered by a sheet to prevent anyone from looking in. Bakhtiar was not aware of it at the time, but they were going east. When the truck stopped, the young Afghan man realized he was not alone. More asylum seekers like himself were lined up along the river banks. In groups of ten, the young men were getting on boats’.

The slogan depicted in this photograph was written during a demonstration in solidarity with migrants which took place on June 15, 2021, organised by the city’s anti-authoritarian and anarchist collectives.