There has been a lot of claims, but not a lot of serious evidence from reputable sources that can be cross-referenced or definitively proven that says migrants to Europe are doing a lot of bad things. However, according to an interesting report from the UK Daily Mail by way of Turkish state media outlet TRT, some migrants are now claiming that Greek police have stripped them naked and beat them.
Migrants in Turkey have accused Greek police of beating them and forcing them to strip off in a freezing no-man’s land on the border where thousands are trying to reach Europe – despite pleas from the EU to stop their attempts.
Turkish state-owned broadcaster TRT published photos of shirtless migrants warming themselves around a fire near the Greek border, with some displaying scars on their backs.
Some of the migrants claimed that Greek police were repelling them with ‘military stuff’ on what TRT described as a ‘site of violence by Greek security forces’.
Greek police have fired tear gas, stun grenades and water cannons to repel people trying to cross the border, but deny claims that they have wounded or even killed migrants. (source)
Who is one to believe? The answer is variable, but I raise this point to illustrate that there are two sides to every issue.
There is a lot of complaints being made about the migrants, but not a lot of evidence against them that we can prove. Indeed, as the migration crisis is being used to drive nationalism as it was in 2016, one must verify all stories related to them lest one become an unwilling propagandist for the new national socialists, who do not wear brown shirts, but rather modern clothing, and instead of listening to band music, listen to variants of metal and rap, but all who have the same evil.
It is true that these claims from the migrants should not just be taken at face value. They need to be investigated. However, one should not just discount or ignore them, because they may be real, and if one does ignore them or say “they are migrants, what can they know?”, one is falling into the exact same trap that the nationalists will use to their advantage for their own evil ends.
Remember, the issue is not the migrants. It is about using the migrants as an excuse to revive militarism, and later to sacrifice the migrants for the same reason like pawns in a game of geopolitical chess, where people are viewed as having no more value than lumps of plastic.