After our arrival and the establishing of our camp at the weekend we quickly started with our work. In the early week we had some difficult weather though. There where storm warnings for all of Liguria with heavy rain and winds. Schools and even the graveyard at the Via Tenda where closed. The parking lot of this graveyard is the central place where we and other NGOs are working from. Even the people on the move where being warned from sleeping under the nearby bridge, since there had been multiple casualties in last october due to floodings. Of course that‘s all the public authorities did. No shelter or dry sleeping places where provided. It‘s already a lot that this night the people on the move where tolerated to sleep in front of the trains station. Usually they get sent away from there by cops. In the end the storm was not as bad as expected and the next day was already sunny and there where a lot of people at the Via Tenda.
Today, at Wednesday there where a lot less people at the place though. The kitchen was somewhat sad, since they could only give out a few portions of food. However the reason for that was actually nice. People at the distribution place told us that a large group made it over the border at the last day. However, the people we talked to did not have so much luck, since they had been pushed back by the french police. These push backs at inner european borders are rarely present in the media. Push backs are quick deportations with no chance of moving on or pleading for asylum. This illegal methods are practiced systematically by France and many other states on the migration routes. People have to try a lot of times to finally make it over the border. And that‘s still not enough. Still behind Nice push backs are enforced. Not even minors are spared. The safer and more obvious the route, the larger the danger becomes to get caught by the police and be forced back. This way people are forced to take more and more dangerous routes. In the few days we where here we already heard of casualties and missing person reports. One person was killed trying to travel on the top of a train. Another report is speaking of a group of people that called for emergency in a local mountain pass but have not been found. The name of the pass: „passo della morte“ – pass of death. A clear picture of the deadly borders inside of europe, between the two sunny vacation spots Monaco and Ventimiglia.