One of the most read British websites, The Guardian, has published an article yesterday titled ‘Croatian police accused of spray-painting heads of asylum seekers’, saying that Croatian police are allegedly spray-painting the heads of asylum seekers with crosses when they attempt to cross the border from Bosnia.
As they write in the article that you can read here, The Guardian has obtained a number of photographs of what has been described by charities as the “latest humiliation’’ perpetrated by the Croatian authorities against migrants travelling along the Balkan route.
Ministry of the Interior reacted to the article today. You can read their whole reaction in the article below:
The British portal The Guardian published an article yesterday, another in a series full of factually unfounded accusations against the Croatian police in the treatment of illegal migrants.
This time, the unfounded accusations went a step further and the article states that Croatian police officers sprayed the heads of migrants who tried to enter the Republic of Croatia illegally with the intention of marking, humiliating and traumatizing them, because their heads were painted in the shape of a cross and the migrant population is mostly Muslim.
Croatian police officers are accused of xenophobia in a pretentious way, with bias and sensationalist articles, and it is especially absurd that such accusations are imputed to police officers of a country that has extremely good and friendly relations with the Islamic Community.
It is particularly worrying and deserves the strongest condemnation that such an article, which clearly encourages religious intolerance, was placed in the public eye during the month of Ramadan.
Screenshot from The Guardian
The construction of how migrants are marked with the sign of the cross because of their religion shows the absolute ignorance of the author of the article and the pre-formed attack on the Republic of Croatia without knowing the basic facts. It is widely known that the Republic of Croatia has excellent relations with the Muslim religious community, which is highly valued in Croatian society, which stands out in the world public as an example of cooperation with religious communities. We would also like to remind you of the conference "Muslim Communities in Europe - Rights and Duties", which pointed out that the Islamic Community in Croatia has been promoting an idea that can serve as a model in resolving the Muslim issue in Europe and Christian minorities in the Islamic world.
The Ministry of the Interior of the Republic of Croatia has previously received various accusations against the state border protection procedures, but in this case we are particularly astonished at the extent to which the author of the article goes with the constructions.
As in all previous cases of accusations against the Croatian police, we immediately conducted an urgent check through the competent police administrations, which includes access to records on the treatment of migrants, interviews with shift chiefs in police stations and police officers who served in the presumed time and tours of locations along the border with Bosnia and Herzegovina. It was established that in the area along the border with Bosnia and Herzegovina at the time indicated, the Croatian police did not carry out activities against migrants nor did they record their movement towards the Croatian border, ie the allegations in the article are not true because they did not occur.
Unfortunately, even in this bizarre case, we believe that this is only one in a series of already established accusations, because the Croatian police consistently implements measures to protect the EU's external border and does not tolerate illegal entry into the Republic of Croatia. The Republic of Croatia is constantly exposed to pressure from various interest groups aimed at weakening measures at the Croatian border. In 2019, Croatian police arrested more than thousand people for human trafficking and aiding illegal migration. The fact of establishing the camp "Lipa" which is not 25 kilometers from the border, as stated in the article, but only 5 kilometers generates the same problem of organizing illegal migration to the Republic of Croatia, and differs from the former camp "Vucjak" only in better humanitarian conditions for the accommodation of migrants.
A certain activist of the No Name Kitchen association and the Border Violence Monitoring association, two organizations that have been leading the charges against the Croatian police for dealing with illegal migrants for years, is mentioned in the article as a source.
We would like to mention that the No Name Kitchen association, according to available information, was the leader of the attempted violent penetration of hundreds of migrants into the Republic of Croatia across the border with Serbia in December 2018, which was prevented in coordination with the Serbian police. According to the article, No Name Kitchen now carries out its activities in the migrant camp in Velika Kladusa.
Due to the treatment of migrants, Border Violence Monitoring regularly publishes accusations against the Croatian police and the Republic of Croatia, as well as all other countries on the Balkan migrant route. The accusations they publish contain almost no information and data that can be investigated, just like in the article published on The Guardian.
The previous work of the author of this article can in no way be considered professional and objective journalistic reporting. Such "journalistic" articles are based on preconceived notions that the Croatian police abuse migrants, while on the other hand they do not provide any information and data that can be investigated and answered, just as in the case described in the article.
However, what is obvious, and always deliberately kept silent, is the fact that in Bosnia and Herzegovina, near the border it is obliged to protect, there are thousands of migrants who are trying to enter the EU illegally and are ready to use all means to achieve their goal, including giving false statements against police officers who stop them on a daily basis in their intent.
The bias of reporting is visible in the fact that numerous cases of violence among migrants in Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as attacks on security services in Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as saving the lives of migrants by the Croatian police, and recently by the Mountain Rescue Service of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the case of rescuing 11 migrants they fell into a pit while fleeing from the Bosnia and Herzegovina's border police.
Therefore, the accusations of humiliation of migrants by the Croatian police on religious grounds are completely absurd and even dangerous if we take into account the time in which they are placed in public.
When considering these allegations, it is always necessary to ask why a police officer would commit such acts and who is interested in publishing such news, which should always be the starting point for thinking about such articles.
In any case, such and similar articles will not weaken the measures that this Ministry implements to protect the state border.
On this occasion, we would like to emphasize that when treating migrants, the police respect their fundamental rights and dignity and provide them with access to the international protection system if they need such protection, in accordance with general human rights documents, EU regulations and national legislation.