Refugees in Belgrade / Serbia

In the heart of Belgrade/Serbia, some 700 refugees are using an old goods factory that sits beside the main train station in Belgrade. Two main factories, warehouses that sit beside each other, broken windows, holes in the roofs with a number of smaller buildings that are dotted around are being used as shelters. With winter in full swing the men look to burning off old train sleepers to keep warm, but the old train sleepers are treated in Arsenic and Cyanide to keep unwanted elements from destroying and deteriorating the rail system. With no way for the smoke to escape the old factories become full of smoke. Sunrise from the east light beams appear filtering through the dark clouded smoke, the sound of coughing in the mornings, lungs full of toxic smoke.Afghan, Pakistani, and many other countries make up the men that are living in this old abandoned factor. Once a day at 1pm there is a food distribution that the Serbian government allows. As it was told to me that the government of Serbia has stopped any nonprofit and NGO's from entering the unofficial refugee camp in a ploy to stop this camp from functioning as the Serbians would rather have the refugees go to official camps so that they can be processed. But for the refugees this is not the option as they feel this would trap them into the Serbian system in which the refugees do not want to be a part of.Never giving up many on a day to day basis leave for the Croatian and Hungarian borders to look to jumping the fence to move closer to Western Europe to seek a better life. I meet many that had tried and failed, some say that they have tried between 9 and 35 times to get past Eastern Europe. Some of them talk about the beating that they received from the Croatians and Hungarians, from dog bites to broken bones they still look to trying to make it to Western Europe as they feel that this is the life for them. Jaartal: 31-01-2017 Foto: Warren Richardson