Greek border guards strip, beat Yemeni, Palestinian migrants

A group of illegal migrants, mainly from Yemen and Palestine, suffered mistreatment at the hands of Greek border guards who beat them violently.

The group crossed illegally from Turkey to Greek territories, which is a common route for illegal migrants fleeing troubled regions in the Middle East.

Greek border guards then sent them to Turkey by forcing them to swim across the Meriç River after stripping them of their clothes and belongings.

Upon seeing the dire state of the migrants, villagers from a Turkish border town brought them clothes and coffee to fend off the cold.

“There were scars and beating marks on their backs and all over their bodies,” said the village headman of Uzunköprü in the western province of Edirne.

The headman said the migrants later left accompanied by members of Turkey’s Gendarmerie after the villagers had notified them of the incident.