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| Hungarian Camerawoman Petra Laszlo Apologizes for Kicking Migrants | Hungarian Camerawoman Petra Laszlo Apologizes for Kicking Migrants |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| LONDON — Petra Laszlo, the Hungarian camerawoman who was fired this week after she was filmed kicking and tripping migrants, including a father carrying a child, has apologized. She said she was defending herself. | LONDON — Petra Laszlo, the Hungarian camerawoman who was fired this week after she was filmed kicking and tripping migrants, including a father carrying a child, has apologized. She said she was defending herself. |
| The footage of Ms. Laszlo blithely sticking out her foot to trip a man carrying his young daughter as they ran from the police spread rapidly on social media. It led to global condemnation and transformed Ms. Laszlo, whose apology was published late Thursday, into a potent symbol of the xenophobic, even violent, response to the migrant crisis in parts of Europe. | The footage of Ms. Laszlo blithely sticking out her foot to trip a man carrying his young daughter as they ran from the police spread rapidly on social media. It led to global condemnation and transformed Ms. Laszlo, whose apology was published late Thursday, into a potent symbol of the xenophobic, even violent, response to the migrant crisis in parts of Europe. |
| The foreign ministers of the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia were to meet on Friday in Prague with the foreign ministers of Germany and Luxembourg, which holds the European Union’s rotating six-month presidency. | |
| The talks are intended to overcome divisions in Europe over how to address the growing migration crisis, which has prompted a call by the European Commission, the 28-nation bloc’s executive arm, for 160,000 to be spread across the bloc. | |
| The harsh response to migrants in some countries in Eastern and Central Europe has spurred debate about why many in former Communist countries, which themselves spent four decades craving liberty, are in some cases unsympathetic, and even downright hostile, to those fleeing tyranny. | The harsh response to migrants in some countries in Eastern and Central Europe has spurred debate about why many in former Communist countries, which themselves spent four decades craving liberty, are in some cases unsympathetic, and even downright hostile, to those fleeing tyranny. |
| Ms. Laszlo she said she had been afraid when migrants broke through a police cordon at a makeshift relocation camp in Roszke, Hungary, a few hundred yards from the Serbian border, and came charging toward her. | Ms. Laszlo she said she had been afraid when migrants broke through a police cordon at a makeshift relocation camp in Roszke, Hungary, a few hundred yards from the Serbian border, and came charging toward her. |
| “I was scared as the crowd rushed towards me, and then something snapped in me,” Ms. Laszlo wrote in a letter to the conservative daily newspaper Magyar Nemzet. | “I was scared as the crowd rushed towards me, and then something snapped in me,” Ms. Laszlo wrote in a letter to the conservative daily newspaper Magyar Nemzet. |
| Ms. Laszlo, who is under police investigation, said she did not deserve the recriminations that have followed. | Ms. Laszlo, who is under police investigation, said she did not deserve the recriminations that have followed. |
| “I’m not a heartless, racist, children-kicking camerawoman,” she wrote. “I do not deserve the political witch hunts against me, nor the smears or often the death threats. I’m just a woman, and now an unemployed mother of small children, who made a bad decision in a situation of panic. I am truly sorry.” | “I’m not a heartless, racist, children-kicking camerawoman,” she wrote. “I do not deserve the political witch hunts against me, nor the smears or often the death threats. I’m just a woman, and now an unemployed mother of small children, who made a bad decision in a situation of panic. I am truly sorry.” |
| Ms. Laszlo was working for an Internet television channel associated with Hungary’s far-right party Jobbik, which has railed against immigration. Frustrated at the conditions in the camp, hundreds of migrants — among them Afghans, Iraqis and Syrians — breached security lines on Tuesday. | Ms. Laszlo was working for an Internet television channel associated with Hungary’s far-right party Jobbik, which has railed against immigration. Frustrated at the conditions in the camp, hundreds of migrants — among them Afghans, Iraqis and Syrians — breached security lines on Tuesday. |
| On Wednesday, the European Commission president, Jean-Claude Juncker, made his plea for the European Union to take in migrants, imploring Europeans not to forget their ancestors who fled famine and hardship in search of a better life. | On Wednesday, the European Commission president, Jean-Claude Juncker, made his plea for the European Union to take in migrants, imploring Europeans not to forget their ancestors who fled famine and hardship in search of a better life. |
| But his call was met with deep resistance in countries like Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia, which fear that a large influx of migrants will undermine their quality of life. | But his call was met with deep resistance in countries like Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia, which fear that a large influx of migrants will undermine their quality of life. |
| Prime Minister Viktor Orban of Hungary has warned that Europe is at risk of being overwhelmed by Muslims, and on Thursday his chief of staff, Janos Lazar, said the country would not accept a “diktat” from Brussels on absorbing migrants. | Prime Minister Viktor Orban of Hungary has warned that Europe is at risk of being overwhelmed by Muslims, and on Thursday his chief of staff, Janos Lazar, said the country would not accept a “diktat” from Brussels on absorbing migrants. |
| The lack of empathy in parts of Eastern and Central Europe can be explained in part by the fact that countries in the region had relatively limited immigration during the Communist era, helping to create a fear of outsiders that has transcended the revolutions of 1989. | The lack of empathy in parts of Eastern and Central Europe can be explained in part by the fact that countries in the region had relatively limited immigration during the Communist era, helping to create a fear of outsiders that has transcended the revolutions of 1989. |
| There is also a feeling that the revolutions have not lived up to their promises, and that countries risk undermining their own economies if they open the gates to migrants. | There is also a feeling that the revolutions have not lived up to their promises, and that countries risk undermining their own economies if they open the gates to migrants. |
| Elsewhere on Friday, Austria said that the rail link to Hungary would remain closed over the weekend. On Thursday, Austria stopped rail service across the border with Hungary under the pressure of migrants streaming in. |