BUDAPEST // A camerawoman for a private television channel in Hungary was fired after footage of her kicking and tripping up migrants fleeing police, including a man carrying a child, spread in the media and on the internet.
In separate videos, the woman, who was not named by the channel, was seen kicking a girl and tripping up the man and child as hundreds of migrants, many of them Syrian refugees, broke away from police on Hungary’s southern border with Serbia.
“An employee of N1TV today showed unacceptable behaviour at the Roszke collection point,” N1TV, an internet-based TV station close to Hungary’s far-right Jobbik party, said on Tuesday. “We have terminated the contract of the camerawoman with immediate effect.”
Hungarian news website 444.hu identified the camerawoman as Petra Laszlo.
Hungary’s right-wing government has taken a hard line on the flow of migrants across its borders en route to western Europe, portraying them as a threat to European prosperity and “Christian values”.
N1TV runs a weekly chat show with Gabor Vona, leader of the far-right, anti-immigration opposition party Jobbik, according to the channel's website.
The channel says it stands for “national issues”.
The scenes from the video 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.
Some 400 to 500 migrants on Wednesday broke through police lines in Hungary near the main crossing point from Serbia.
The break-out took place near the flashpoint town of Roszke where migrants have to wait at a collection point before being taken to a nearby centre for registration.
Shouting “No camp!” they scattered in all directions, some heading for a nearby motorway leading to Budapest, which police then temporarily closed down.
The M5 motorway was later reopened after most of the migrants agreed to be taken to a nearby refugee camp.
Only small groups of people continued to walk down the motorway, according to local media.
Over 150,000 migrants, many of them refugees from conflicts in the Middle East, have been recorded entering Hungary so far this year.
Police have been trying to round them up and register them in line with European Union rules, but many migrants refuse, fearing that they will then be forced to stay in Hungary.
* Reuters and Agence France-Presse
