Last week, probably one of the most brutal pushbacks ever documented took place in the Aegean.

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Appeal from Balkanbrücke, Seebrücke und Pro Asyl.

We spoke to people who were among the group of 24 refugees that landed at Katia in the south of Lesvos at around 1 a.m. on 10 November.

A group of 19 refugees who had reached Greek waters was first put in danger by the Greek military and then violently and illegally returned to Turkish waters by the Hellenic Coast Guard, where they were forced into two life rafts and abandoned floating at sea.

8521. This is the number of refugees that have been illegally pushed back while trying to cross the Aegean Sea since March 2020. Mare Liberum collected information on 266 pushbacks, but the actual number is most likely much higher.

Mare Liberum has seen evidence that since March of this year, over 8,000 people have been illegally and brutally forced back across the Greek-Turkish maritime border in the Aegean Sea.

The Hellenic Coastguard is systematically performing brutal pushbacks to Turkey on a daily basis. Meanwhile, European states have failed to condemn these illegal practices.

To what extent are German police and Bundeswehr (german military) ships involved in practices that violate international maritime law, the Geneva Convention and applicable EU law?

In July 2020, the European Union granted an additional 500 million Euro to Turkey within the framework of the so-called "EU-Turkey Deal". Over 6 billion Euro have so far been paid to Turkey by the EU since the 2016 deal, whereby EU leaders persuaded the country to support them in “protecting their borders” by forcibly preventing a further influx of refugees.

While for several weeks now pushbacks and dangerous standoffs at sea became the common practice in the Aegean to prevent migrants from reaching Greece, we witness that at the same time there are many efforts to ‘empty the island’ and push refugees to leave.

It seemed as if everybody was holding their breath in expectance of many boats to reach the Greek islands. A few arrived and then: Nothing!

After years of being completely left alone by the EU and being pushed to its breaking point and beyond by having to carry the burden of the European migration policy, far right groups and angry locals took control of the narrative.

Situation of the new arrivals on the island of Lesvos since March 1st, 2020.

Today and also tomorrow Lesvos and the Northern Aegean islands are on general strike as a result of the central government‘s decision to „send riot police to islands of Lesvos and Chios to impose violent transformation of new prisons in defiance of the will of islanders.”

At dawn, when the first rays of light begin to reflect on the Aegean waters, Mare Liberum’s onboard radio continues to crackle, belching out numbers, coordinates and requests for Turkish Coast Guard (TCG) intervention from the European Coast Guards (ECGs).

Despite the EU-Turkey deal, migrants continue to set out on the dangerous route to Europe with the aim of a future worth living. According to the NGO Aegean Boat Report 2.198 migrants reached the Greek islands between August 1 and 11.

In den Hügeln nahe der griechischen Stadt Molyvos vermitteln zehntausende von Rettungswesten ein Bild davon, wie Migration an der europäischen Außengrenze aussieht. Fast alle davon sind so genannte "gefälschte Rettungswesten", die in der Türkei für rund 10 Euro verkauft werden.