In
the chaos captured on video this month when a group of desperate
migrants stormed out of a Hungarian holding camp, it was the actions of a
camerawoman that garnered outrage.
Petra
Laszlo was documenting the wave of migrants, many from the Middle East,
sprinting from the holding camp in Hungary when she saw a man running
with a child in his arms.
She tripped him, sending them tumbling to the ground. Moments later, the same camerawoman kicked other migrants, including a young girl, as they ran.
The
man she tripped is Osama Abdul Mohsen, a Syrian who had moved his
family to Turkey more than a year before and was now trying to get to
Germany.
Laszlo was fired by her employer and apologized for her actions.
But Mohsen told CNN he doesn't buy it.
"I tell her, be sure you Hungarian journalist that karma will get back to you, and God will not leave this be," he said.
Mohsen, 52, said he was carrying his 7-year-old son, Zaid, in his arms when he was tripped.
He
said the stampede from the Hungarian camp was triggered by the
desperation the migrants inside felt. There were thousands of migrants
packed into a small area, some with tents, but many others with no
shelter, Mohsen said.
He and
Zaid spent only one night in the camp, sleeping on the ground, but
others had lived in those conditions for weeks, Mohsen said.
"This
caused anxiety and weariness to many migrants," Mohsen said. "The
indifference of the Hungarian authorities triggered the situation,
causing the migrants to storm the police defenses and walk their way to
the nearby village, around 3 to 5 kilometers away."
It was during that chaotic sprint out of the camp that Laszlo was seen tripping and kicking some of the fleeing migrants.
A
backlash ensued after video of her attacks surfaced, prompting her
employer, the Hungarian nationalist N1TV station, to fire her.
Laszlo
wrote in a letter to the daily Hungarian newspaper Magyar Nemzet that
it was scary when the rush of migrants burst through a police cordon.
The letter describes how the ensuing panic scared her and made her think she would be attacked.
"I
am very sorry for the incident, and as a mother I am especially sorry
for the fact that fate pushed a child in my way. I did not see that at
that moment. I started to panic and as I re-watch the film, it seems as
it was not even me," her letter states.
Back in Syria, Mohsen was a soccer coach at a sports club in Deir Ezzor.
"You
and everyone can imagine what the situation is like in times of war,"
he told CNN. "Deir Ezzor is in the midst of all this. It is impossible
to live in, and those who have stayed really have absolutely nowhere to
go, no shelter, no home, nothing. Luckily, we managed to leave and
hopefully secure for our children a safer life."
His family fled to Turkey, where he rented a home.
Then ISIS took over Deir Ezzor, and Mohsen knew there was no going back to his hometown.
"Their
entry completely erased the thought of going back, even for a day to
check on things and family. We have lost complete connection there; we
can never go back as long as they remain there," he said.
Mohsen
said he understands that every country has the right to keep its land
and citizens safe, but is at a loss at what he calls a lack of humanity.
"The world is witnessing a
war. Killing and destruction that have never been in history before, no
one can deny this reality," Mohsen said. "But it is the right of every
human to live a decent life. ... Not a lavish life, just a life free of
fear and violation of humanity."
His
son, he said, was injured in the fall after the camerawoman tripped
him. To make matters worse, the boy got sick with a fever and was
throwing up for days.
Mohsen said he plans to sue Laszlo and her former employer.
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