A Hungarian video journalist caught on camera tripping and kicking refugees attempting to evade police has been fired. The unnamed video journalist for the countrys N1TV station was caught by a German correspondent tripping a man holding a child and kicking a girl after they broke through a police blockade.
The TV station later posted a statement onto its website that read: Today, a N1TV colleague behaved unacceptably at the Roeszke reception center. The cameramans employment was terminated with immediate effect. According to the Washington Post, the statement was signed by N1TV editor Szabolcs Kisber.
Footage of the incident was first captured by journalist Stephan Richter. Hours after posting the video, Richter tweeted some clarifications as to his connection to the camerawoman. A lot of question about my video with the camerawoman: no! I do not know her and no: shes not my colleague, he posted.
Twitter has been quick to condemn the video journalist for her behaviour and called for N1TV to apologise for her actions. According to the Post, some on the social media site have used the incident to back claims that Hungarian journalists and media outlets are backing Prime Minister Viktor Orban.
NBC News crew on the scene said that hundreds of refugees managed to break from the camp near the Hungarian-Serbian border on 8 September due to overcrowding. Many refugees have attempted to continue their journey to Austria and Germany but have met with resistance from Hungarian authorities, the Post reported.
Hungarian news website 444.hu also posted the incident, but from the camerawomans perspective. The video is cut short, right before the man and child are tripped by the video journalist.
According to Business Insider, a different video posted to Twitter shows the same camerawoman, kicking at least two different refugees as they run from police. One of the refugees kicked appears to be a young girl.
