Budapest, Sep 11 A Hungarian camera operator who was filmed kicking two refugee children and tripping up a man at the border of Roszke has apologised, saying â€œsomething snapped in meâ€ and she cannot believe her actions.

In a letter to the Hungarian daily Magyar Nemzet, Petra Laszlo said she had been in a state of shock since the incident on Tuesday near the Hungarian-Serbian border, but denied accusations of racism, The Guardian reported on Friday.

â€œThe camera was rolling, hundreds of migrants broke through the police cordon, one of them rushed to me and I was scared,â€ she wrote.

â€œThen something snapped in me, I just thought that I was attacked and I have to protect myself. Itâ€™s hard to make good decisions at a time when people are in a panic.â€

Laszlo added that she was willing to take responsibility for her actions, but went on to say, â€œIâ€™m not a heartless, racist, children-kicking camerawoman. I do not deserve the political witch-hunts against me, nor the smears or the death threats.

â€œIâ€™m just an unemployed mother of small children, who made a bad decision. I am truly sorry.â€

Laszlo was fired by Hungarian television channel N1TV after a video of the incident was posted on Twitter by Stephan Richter, a reporter for the German television channel RTL.

N1TV said her behaviour was â€œunacceptableâ€ and her job had been terminated â€œwith immediate effectâ€.

Hungarian camera operator apologises for kicking refugees