The Guardian posted on its website a video showing a line of semi-naked men on a stretch of road. According to the British daily, the men are migrants stripped of clothing by the Serbian police and forced back from the Serbian border into North Macedonia.

The Guardian said it has not independently verified the two videos that were shown to it by Legis, a North Macedonian NGO. This organization says that the videos were filmed by a local person near the village of Lojane, close to the Serbian border, and handed to them on 10 February.

The British daily reported that Legis claims the incident was the second of two abusive and “degrading” pushbacks over a 24-hour period, in which more than 50 people were forced to strip naked or down to their underwear by the Serbian authorities before being forced back into North Macedonia, from where they had illegally entered the Serbian territory.

Legis says its local staff managed to talk to the men, who identified themselves as Syrians.

Jasmin Redjepi, president of Legis, told The Guardian that the “disturbing and degrading” pushbacks came shortly after an EU-Serbian border cooperation summit, aimed at strengthening the Serbian border against people-smuggling operations.

“These incidents occur when the EU prepares restrictions for migrants on the route, and in this case just days after an EU-Serbia border cooperation summit. We then see the direct impact and consequences,” Redjepi said, reported The Guardian.

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