Skip to main content

Hungarian camerawoman plans to sue Facebook and the refugee she tripped


In case the recent footage of a Hungarian camerawoman caught tripping and kicking fleeing Syrian refugees couldn’t get any uglier, it has been reported by a Russian newspaper, that the camerawoman intends on suing not just Facebook, but also the one of the migrants she was caught on video tripping tripping.

In September, video footage of Petra László tripping a fleeing refugee and causing him to fall onto his child quickly went viral. The video also shows László randomly kicking other migrants, including a young girl. László was one of many videographers and reporters on the scene filming migrants who were attempting to reach Austria and Germany as they broke through the holding camp’s police line in southern Hungary, with only the belongings they could carry in their arms. The refugees then hiked or walked about four miles, dropping many of their belongings along the way.

After the video of László was released, the camerawoman was fired from her job at Hungarian TV channel N1TV and investigated for various offenses including suspicion of committing a public nuisance. She currently faces a criminal trial for breach of the peace and initially stated that she was sorry for her actions and was just scared of the crowds.

According to the recent interview with the Russian newspaper, however, the camerawoman now intends to sue Facebook, which she feels, “helped embitter people against me.” She also plans to sue the man she tripped, Osama Abdel-Muhsen Alghadab, who ended up falling onto his child. According to László, she can “prove that refugee Osama was wrong,” because of his recent comment to the Daily Mail that, “One of the policemen tripped my son but it wasn’t as bad as the camerawoman … He fell onto the ground, that’s why I was holding him.”

Because of the release of the video, László also stated that she doesn’t see a future for herself in Hungary and is considering moving her and her family to Russia.

Editors' Recommendations

Christina Majaski
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Christina has written for print and online publications since 2003. In her spare time, she wastes an exorbitant amount of…
How to create multiple profiles on a Facebook account
A series of social media app icons on a colorful smartphone screen.

Facebook (and, by extension, Meta) are particular in the way that they allow users to create accounts and interact with their platform. Being the opposite of the typical anonymous service, Facebook sticks to the rule of one account per one person. However, Facebook allows its users to create multiple profiles that are all linked to one main Facebook account.

In much the same way as Japanese philosophy tells us we have three faces — one to show the world, one to show family, and one to show no one but ourselves — these profiles allow us to put a different 'face' out to different aspects or hobbies. One profile can keep tabs on your friends, while another goes hardcore into networking and selling tech on Facebook Marketplace.

Read more
How to set your Facebook Feed to show most recent posts
A smartphone with the Facebook app icon on it all on a white marble background.

Facebook's Feed is designed to recommend content you'd most likely want to see, and it's based on your Facebook activity, your connections, and the level of engagement a given post receives.

But sometimes you just want to see the latest Facebook posts. If that's you, it's important to know that you're not just stuck with Facebook's Feed algorithm. Sorting your Facebook Feed to show the most recent posts is a simple process:

Read more
How to go live on TikTok (and can you with under 1,000 followers?)
Tik Tok

It only takes a few steps to go live on TikTok and broadcast yourself to the world:

Touch the + button at the bottom of the screen.
Press the Live option under the record button.
Come up with a title for your live stream. 
Click Go Live to begin.

Read more