The Hungarian camera operator who was filmed kicking two refugee
children and tripping up a man at the border hotspot of Röszke this week
has apologised, saying “something snapped in me” and she cannot believe
her actions.
In a letter
to the rightwing daily newspaper Magyar Nemzet, Petra László said she
had been in a state of shock since the incident on Tuesday, but denied
accusations of racism.
“The camera was shooting, hundreds of migrants broke through the
police cordon, one of them rushed to me and I was scared,” she wrote.
“Then something snapped in me … I just thought that I was attacked
and I have to protect myself. It’s hard to make good decisions at a time
when people are in a panic.”
László added that she was willing to take responsibility for her
actions, but went on: “I’m not a heartless, racist, children-kicking
camerawoman. I do not deserve the political witch-hunts against me, nor
the smears or the death threats.
“I’m just an unemployed mother of small children, who made a bad decision. I am truly sorry.”
László was fired
by Hungarian nationalist television channel N1TV after video of the
incident was posted on Twitter by Stephan Richter, a reporter for the
German television channel RTL.
N1TV – which has links to the far-right Jobbik party – said her
behaviour was “unacceptable” and her job had been terminated “with
immediate effect”.
On Thursday, Hungarian prosecutors said
a criminal case for breach of the peace had been opened against her.
Sandor Toro, the deputy chief prosecutor of Csongrád county, said: “In
the course of the investigation, the authorities will also examine if
more serious crimes … can be established.”
The incident happened on Tuesday as hundreds of people broke through a police line at Röszke,
a collection point close to the Hungarian-Serbian border where
thousands of migrants have been crossing every day for the last month.
