“On April 8th, in the centre of Menton, we found a man who asked us to call the ambulance for him. It was 3am. He was cold and seemed very stressed out, and when we asked him what he needed an ambulance for, he told us he had fallen while running and that his legs and his stomach were in pain now. When the emergency medics picked up the phone, we were asked about the specifics of the accident and the man’s name. We gave him the phone so he could tell the woman from the hospital. He told her his name, and as it clearly did not seem like a French name, she asked him whether he had any legal documents and how he arrived in France. He explained to her that he had been running on the train-tracks when crossing from Ventimiglia to Menton. After the fall, he had to walk for another hour to get into Menton. He also denied having any official documents on him. After the call, we waited for the ambulance together. After fifteen minutes, the police arrived, and asked us whether we were the ones that had called the police. We confirmed, and asked the police officers (there were three of them) when the ambulance would arrive. One police officer called the ambulance again, and was told that they would not come, as the police was now with him. The police officers started asking him questions. He repeated what he’d told the hospital on the phone. When he told them that he had fallen on the train tracks, they responded that it was dangerous to walk on the train tracks and that he should avoid doing that. One policeman then urged him to stand up, as he wanted to see whether the man was actually hurt. He made some comments about the man seeming in good shape and that he couldn’t see anything on his pants that would indicate that he had actually fallen. The policeman even made a comment saying „oh, tu nous fais un spectacle ou quoi?“ (“You’re putting up a show or what?”). When we demanded that a doctor assess how serious the man’s pain and injury was, the police didn’t reply. The man eventually pulled up his pants, and you could see a bloody cut on his lower leg. He added that this was not the main source of pain, as he had mainly hurt his upper leg. Eventually, the police told him that he had to go with them, and that they would be the ones that were responsible for taking medical care of him now. He left with them. The next day, he contacted us on WhatsApp. He told us that he was feeling better, but that no one at the police station had shed another look at his injuries. It was also that day that he tried again to go from Ventimiglia to Nice, which he managed to do. He later informed us that he was feeling very sick when he arrived in Nice, so he went to the police there. They sent him to the hospital in Nice, where he was treated for a few days. He told me that this concerned not his injury from the first night, but that he had an illness that needed treatment.


A woman from the Cote D’Ivoire and her son, who looks to be about 4, arrive at the Italian station from France. They pause outside the station and appear to discuss with police, then they walk back in the direction of France only to return about fifteen minutes later. When they are released from the Italian station, we approach them and offer them tea. We begin to discuss and the woman informs us that the French police took her son’s medical documents which are very important. Her son had fallen severely ill when they first arrived in Italy; he was hospitalized and at one point in a coma. The papers which documented this experience and his condition were taken by the French police and not returned. This is why the woman and her son had returned to the French side of the border– to ask again for the papers. She reports saying to the French officer “You are cruel” to which he replied “yes, I’m cruel.” (translated exchange).