Hungarian TV camerawoman indicted in kicking, tripping of refugees

SZEGED , Hungary, Sept. 7 (UPI) -- Petra Laszlo, a television camerawoman accused of kicking and tripping refugees as they ran past a Hungarian police line, was indicted Wednesday.

The September 2015 incident, captured on video and in photographs as about 400 refugees broke through a police line and ran through a field near the Hungary-Serbia border, became emblematic of anti-migrant hostility in Europe. Although Laszlo later said she regretted her actions, she was charged with breaching the peace Wednesday by the prosecutor in the city of Szeged.

"The accused stood right behind the police line surrounding the migrants when the breakout happened and she stayed there even after a group of migrants broke into a sprint next to her. The accused, while she continued filming the scene, kicked a young man in the shin with a swift movement of her right foot, and immediately after that, she also kicked a minor girl at knee high with her right leg. Then the accused kicked towards a migrant who was running with a child in his arms with the intention to trip him, however, her leg did not reach the migrant. Nevertheless, the migrant fell while he was holding the child because a policeman tried to grab him so that he couldn't leave the designated area...The violent actions of the accused did not inflict injury, however her behavior was capable of provoking indignation and outcry in the members of the public present at the scenes," the indictment read in part.

Release of the video prompted international outrage, and Laszlo was fired by her employer, Hungary's NITV channel. A date for her trial, in Szeged, was not announced.