Stories of Border Resistance, testimony taken in Lesvos, March 2024
Early in 2024, at approximately 11pm we left Turkey to reach Lesvos. We were 42 people, nine or ten small children, and 12 to 13 women. I was with my wife and four minor children (between 10 to 16 years old). The youngest person in the boat was a 7 month old baby, the oldest was around 65 years old. The weather was good. Our dinghy was 12 meters long, grey and the number 30 was written on the engine. We had inflatable rubber rings, and a few people had life jackets.
“After about 1 hour we arrived to Lesvos island, but in front of us were tall and big rocks so it was difficult to get to land.”
We were moving around to find somewhere better to land but It was very dark and we were very afraid that our boat would hit the rocks and break. For about 20 minutes we tried to land but we could not. We did not call any emergency lines or other organizations.
“There were two people in it and they start creating waves and we were very scared.”
Suddenly a small boat arrived out of nowhere. The boat was small but very fast. After some minutes a bigger yellow vessel arrived and they also started to make waves. From the big vessel, they threw us a rope and attached it to our dinghy. They took all of us up in the yellow vessel and searched us. They were even searching the diapers of children. They threw all of the phones and bags into the sea, and just kept our money. They were searching women very badly, touching all of their body.
“We were pushed around the waves like a ball between the two vessels”
There were four people in the vessel, three men and one woman which were dressed in black. I do not remember any insignia on their clothes. They had guns and batons. It took around half an hour, not more. They took us to the middle of the sea. They pulled our dinghy up and cut the engine. The engine fell into the sea.
“They put the dinghy back into the water and pushed all of us into it.”
The time was around 1 am when they left us in the middle of the sea. They took us and brought us back to the shore. After we arrived in Turkey, the police took us to their station and took our fingerprints. One of the men of our group hid his phone, so this is how we knew the time. He called the Turkish Coast Guard and asked for help. After 20 minutes, they had still not arrived.
“We saw a large Turkish vessel from afar and we started to shout and make noise, asking for help.”
After this they took us to the Ayvacık camp. We were detained there for two nights. We had to sleep in the yard. We were not allowed to go inside.
“The weather was extremely cold and they did not give us any food.”
It was very dirty and all the people were sick. Children were crying but there was no doctor. After two days they let us leave the camp.
Lesvos, Greece, 2024
| Stories of Resistance, Lesvos 2025 Despite blanket denials from Greek authorities, “pushbacks” in the Aegean Sea and Greece’ Evros border region are a horrifying reality. For years, the Legal Centre Lesvos has collected hundreds of testimonies of survivors of border violence. Together with Fitilia, over the next year we will publish a series of these anonymized* accounts, with the intention to show that behind every statistic, there is a person risking their life to reach Europe. While these stories highlight the brutality and violence of Greek and European border policies, they are also stories of resisting border regimes. They are a call to action – a stark reminder of the urgent need to continue the fight to dismantle the borders that surround us and with it the violence of Fortress Europe. *All identifying details, including names and exact dates have been removed, however, the stories published remain true to the survivors’ own accounts, and all have consented to the publishing of their testimonies. |