Hungarian journalist apologises after kicking and attacking young refugees

zainab quadri

September 11, 2015 12:01 PM

A journalist who went viral after kicking and tripping up migrants fleeing police, including a man carrying a child, has apologised to the public and the refugees.

Hungarian TV journalist fired for tripping up fleeing migrants

A journalist who went viral after kicking and tripping up migrants fleeing police, including a man carrying a child, has apologised to the public and the refugees.

She apologised for her actions - and denied accusations of racism, claiming she thought she was being attacked at the time.

Earlier this week Petra Laszlo was filmed tripping up children and a Syrian father carrying a crying child as they attempted to flee across a field on the Hungarian-Serbian border.

Claiming something then 'snapped in me', she added 'I just thought that I was being attacked and I had to protect myself.'

She added: 'It's hard to make good decisions at a time when people are in a panic and many hundreds of people rushing. I'm sorry about what happened... I take responsibility for it.'

'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 am truly sorry.'

Laszlo was sacked with immediate effect after the TV station saw the footage online, and she has been subjected to torrents of justified hatred on social media

A statement posted on the station's website read: 'A N1TV colleague behaved unacceptably at the Roszke reception centre.

'The cameraman's employment was terminated with immediate effect.'

On Tuesday it emerged Laszlo is set to face a criminal investigation over the shocking assaults.

zainab quadri