Camerawoman fired for violence to refugees

The television station for which the woman worked, N1TV, said in a statement on Tuesday that she had shown "unacceptable behavior" toward refugees fleeing police on Hungary's southern border with Serbia.

"We have terminated the contract of the camerawoman with immediate effect today," said the statement from the station, which has a close association with the far-right, anti-immigration opposition party Jobbik.

The channel now considered the matter "closed," it said.

A number of videos that have been widely posted by media and on the Internet show the woman kicking a girl and tripping up a man carrying a child as hundreds of refugees broke through police lines at the Roszke collection point on Tuesday.

Hard-line policy

Hungary's right-wing government under Prime Minister Viktor Orban is taking a hardline stance toward the refugees who are crossing its borders en route to Western Europe.

Police have been trying to round them up and force them to register according to European Union rules, but many are refusing to do so, fearing that they might then be forced to remain in Hungary instead of moving on to wealthier, northern European countries.

More than 150,000 refugees, many of them Syrians fleeing the conflict in their country, have entered Hungary since the beginning of the year.

The situation at Roszke on the border to Serbia has been tense for days, with refugees waiting sometimes for hours to be registered, often against their will.

tj/jil (Reuters, AFP)