Hungary indicts camerawoman who tripped refugees

Published September 8th, 2016 - 09:30 GMT
The father and son were tripped up by Petra Laszio as they tried to flee from police. (Screenshot)
The father and son were tripped up by Petra Laszio as they tried to flee from police. (Screenshot)

Hungarian prosecutors filed charges Wednesday against a cameawoman who tripped refugees as they fled police near the Serbian border last year, Al Jazeera reported.

Footage showing Petra Laszlo kicking and tripping refugees caused international outrage after it went viral online.

Laszlo was charged with disorderly conduct after "she kicked a young man in the shin with a swift kick of the sole of her right foot, and also kicked young girl around the knee with her right foot," prosecutors said in a statement obtained by Reuters.

But according to prosecotors, Laszlo's actions showed no evidence of a racially-motivated hate crime.

Laszlo later apologized and tried to defend her actions, and was subsequently fired from her job at N1TV, a private right-wing Hungarian television station. 

"I am practically in shock from what I did, and what was done to me," Laszlo said. "I am not heartless (or) racist ... I am a woman, a mother of small children, who has since lost her job, and who made a bad decision in panic."

Over the last year, tensions have simmered in the European Union over the refugee crisis.

On October 2, Hungary will vote on whether to accept EU refugee quotas.

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