This video grab made on September 9, 2015 shows a Hungarian TV camerawoman kicking a child as she run with other migrants from a police line during disturbances at Roszke, southern Hungary. After the footage appeared, the camerawomen was fired on September 8 by N1TV, an internet-based TV station close to Hungary's far-right Jobbik party. The woman, later named as Petra Laszlo, can be seen tripping a man sprinting with a child in his arms, and kicking another running child in two separate incidents. The scenes took place as hundreds of migrants broke through a police line at a collection point close to the Serbian border where thousands have been crossing over each day for the past month.     AFP PHOTO / INDEX.HU        (Photo credit should read -/AFP/Getty Images)
Hungarian camerawoman trips, kicks migrant
01:30 - Source: CNN

Story highlights

The camerawoman worked for Hungary's nationalist N1TV news station

Her behavior "was completely unacceptable," and she has been fired

CNN  — 

A Hungarian camerawoman has apologized for kicking desperate migrants as they fled, saying her actions had nothing to do with racism.

The man, carrying all his belongings, falls on top of the boy as they tumble to the ground. He screams in disbelief.

Moments later, the same camerawoman kicks other migrants as they run, including a young girl in the leg.

A backlash ensued after video of her attacks surfaced, prompting her employer – the Hungarian nationalist N1TV station – to fire her.

“The camera operator behavior was completely unacceptable,” N1TV said in a statement.

The station did not identify the camerawoman, but thousands took to a Facebook “shame wall” to criticize her acts.

Laszlo is being investigated on suspicion of committing a public nuisance offense, a spokesman for the Public Prosecutor’s Office of Szeged told CNN. Prosecutors are also considering whether to investigate her on more serious offenses, the spokesman said.

Laszlo was one of the videographers filming the flood of migrants trying to get through Hungary on the way to Austria and Germany. The migrants include refugees trying to escape the carnage brought on by terrorists and war in their homelands.

After crossing from Serbia into Hungary with only the belongings they could carry, the migrants were stuck for days at a holding camp in southern Hungary. Many complained about uncomfortable or inhumane conditions in the camp.

Opinion: Why U.S. should do more in refugee crisis

After breaking through the holding camp’s police line Tuesday, they scrambled across a field, walked and hiked about 4 miles – many dropping their possessions on the ground.

Two children from one family lost the shoes they were wearing. They walked barefoot over a train track and rocks for miles, hoping to reach a country more welcoming of refugees.

Hungary, a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention aimed at protecting refugees, has come under criticism for its handling of migrants and for installing a razor-wire fence to stop the flow.

Hungary has said it is just trying to enforce European Union laws on restricting migrants without proper documentation.

Are countries obligated to take in refugees? In some cases, yes

CNN’s Lindsay Isaac, Arwa Damon at the Hungarian-Serbian border and Brian Walker in Atlanta contributed to this report.