>Hamid Barekzai desperately tried to cross into Croatia 17 times in one year. He says he was beaten and humiliated during most of his attempts, but the Afghan migrant isn't about to give up on his goal of getting deeper into Europe.
>International rights groups say there is enough evidence that Croatian police for months have been forcing migrants and asylum-seekers back across the border to neighboring Serbia, in some cases using violence, taking their money and breaking their cellphones, without giving them an opportunity to file claims for protection.
>"Yesterday I came back from Croatia. They (police) beat us and took 900 euros and he (a policeman) took our phones and broke them. After that, he slapped me and he behaved very badly with us," said Haider Zaman Khan from Pakistan.
>Abdul Jabbar from Afghanistan said he tried to cross into Croatia three times and was beaten once.
>"The second time I went with my friend. We paid taxi to Zagreb 200 euros," he said.
>Instead of taking them about 300 kilometers (190 miles) to the Croatian capital, he said the taxi driver took them straight to a nearby police station.
>"The police beat us, they broke our mobiles and sent us back to the border," he said.
>"This morning, a group came back from Zagreb. So, even when they make it to Zagreb or (further west) to Slovenia, people are deporting them back to Serbia because it is outside of the EU," Buttner said.
>As he spoke, a Libyan man came limping into the factory and started bandaging his swollen ankle which he said he sustained from a baton hit by a Croatian policeman. A small crowd gathered around Ahmed Ali who said he's just back from what migrants call "the game" — an attempt to outplay the Croatian border police, like in a computer game.
>"They won today, but tomorrow is another game," he said.
foxnews.com
