A Hungarian TV journalist who was sacked after she was caught tripping up a refugee who was carrying his child in his arms has spoken out.
Petra László was also caught kicking a fleeing child in a separate incident as refugees ran from police during disturbances at Roszke, southern Hungary earlier this week.
Roszke is close to the Serbian border where thousands have crossed into Europe each day.
Petra László was filmed tripping a refugee who was running with his child in his arms
László ‘s employer, the broadcaster N1TV terminated her contract as soon as the footage came to light.
Having been pilloried by her own industry, László has now spoken about the behaviour which saw her lose her job.
“The camera was shooting, hundreds of migrants broke through the police cordon, one of them rushed to me and I was scared."Then something snapped in me … I just thought that I was attacked and I have to protect myself. It’s hard to make good decisions at a time when people are in a panic.
"I'm not a heartless, racist children kicking camerawoman. I do not deserve it nor the political witch hunts against me, nor the smear, the many death threats.
"I'm just a woman, since then, an unemployed mother of small children, who brought a panic situation, a bad decision. I am truly sorry.”
The footage of László was posted to Twitter by RTL journalist Stephan Richter and has been retweeted more then 2,500 times.
In its wake, a statement from N1TV was swiftly posted to the channel’s Facebook page.
It said: "An N1TV colleague today behaved in an unacceptable way at the Roszke collection point, the camerawoman's employment contract has been terminated with immediate effect as of today, we consider the matter closed."
The incident came as It comes as Hungary's handling of the migration crisis is placed under greater scrutiny.
The Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has been vocal in his support of tough expulsion policies and he has stated that Hungary does not want to take Muslim refugees.
His rhetoric has provoked colleagues on the European Council to criticise his attempts to stoke tensions between those seeking refuge and residents in Europe.
Orbán is an electoral force in the country and holds close to a two-thirds majority, having begun his 8-year term as prime minister in 2010.