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Syrian family speak about attack by Hungarian journalist

September 12, 2015 at 1:22 pm

Mohannad is 19 years old and from Deir Ezzor in Syria, where he was wounded by a bullet in his left leg. He has told Huffington Post Arabi that he never thought that he would ever be watching international and Arab satellite channels in a rented flat in Turkey showing a news report about his father and younger brother. In the film clip, they are fighting off a Hungarian journalist who tripped them so that they wouldn’t escape from the police officers trying to prevent them from crossing the border into Serbia en route to Germany.

Speaking in a telephone interview, Mohannad said that he had never felt as helpless since he was injured by the bullet almost three years ago as he did on Wednesday. It was then that he saw the horror on his brother’s face and heard the painful scream of his father cursing at the Hungarian journalist who was covering the attempt of hundreds of refugees to flee from the police. The woman tripped them up deliberately.

Identified as Petra Laszlo, her action was condemned after a German camera crew filmed her kicking, tripping and attacking refugees running away from the police. The television station she worked for, N1TV, sacked her from her job despite its anti-refugee, right-wing links.

“An employee of N1TV today showed unacceptable behaviour at the Roszke collection point,” the channel said. “We have terminated the contract of the camerawoman with immediate effect today.”

While there have been demands to prosecute the journalist, especially by Hungary’s opposition parties, the chief editor of the channel said, “I believe we have done what we had to do in this situation. We don’t understand how this could happen, it is shocking and unacceptable.”

The shock of the incident

Why did she display such “violence and hatred” to Mohannad’s father and seven year old brother? The young man, who had once been active and had participated in the civil protests, during which he was shot in January 2012, couldn’t help but ask the question.

The answer was quick in coming, with a number of social networking pages created under Laszlo’s name. Apparently she said that she was “proud” of what she did. Although the legitimacy of that new Twitter account could not be verified, hundreds of people followed the page, with many supporting her. “So much hate for me #PetraLaszlo. The internet world is a cruel place to someone trying to protect Hungary & helping police,” said one. “These are not refugees,” said another. “These are MIGRANTS pretends [sic] to run for their lives to take our #Hungary. #PetraLaszlo.” In any case, it has now been reported that she has apologised for what she did.

Mohannad explained that his father, Osama Abdul Mohsen, had worked with Syrian Premier League football team Al-Fotuwa SC before being forced to resign after clashes broke out in Deir Ezzour between opposition groups and state forces. He set out on what turned out to be a very long journey in an effort to ensure the future of his family, his 38 year-old wife, Mohannad, Mohammad (17) and his youngest son Zayd.

Mohammad travelled eight months ago on a ship to Italy and then boarded a train to Germany. He had hoped that he could file for a family reunification visa because of his young age, but the difficulty of the journey and complicated procedures delayed his application. With the rest of his family in the Turkish city of Bodrum, Abdul Mohsen decided to head for Germany himself; perhaps he could get a reunification visa. He decided to take Zayd with him because he was the closest to his heart, as the youngest in the family, and because his presence would help him to file a family reunification application after reaching Germany.

Their journey began earlier this month; after three failed attempts, they reached Greece and then set out for Macedonia. The father and son then headed to the Hungarian border, “from where he called us before we stopped hearing from him completely,” said Mohannad. His worried family tried to check on him by calling the group of around 20 people that the father had left with. Each one had paid the smugglers $1,300.

No news

“The last news we had heard was two days before the incident with the camerawoman,” explained Mohannad. “We were very shocked, along with my mother, after watching the video and the difficult position my father and younger brother were put in.” They have not heard anything about his father and young brother since then.

According to the Hungarian police, the M5 motorway was closed after a group of refugees broke through a cordon on the Hungarian-Serbian border on Wednesday. The refugees set off on foot towards the motorway. The police said that the slip road for getting to southern Budapest was closed. Hungarian news site Index reported that nearly 400 refugees fled from the gathering point, with half heading towards the motorway while the others went towards a side road leading to the city of Szeged.

A mother’s heart

None of this news calmed the heart of the mother who could not forget the horror that was on the face of her child Zayd after falling to the ground with his father and being surrounded by the police. She now feels guilty about agreeing to allow her youngest son to experience this difficult journey, of course at her husband’s insistence. She told Huffington Post Arabi that, “It is not like every other journey; it is a death journey.” She added that she gave in to her son’s reassuring words when he said, “Mum, I am going to Germany to see Mohammad; don’t be afraid.” He was so happy at the thought of seeing his brother Mohammad.

The father will not be silent

Mohannad insists that his father will not remain silent over what happened to him, “but we do not know what his situation is now.” He hinted that his father might press charges against the journalist, citing the fear and anxiety experienced by his family. “My father is frustrated by everything. He could not find work in Turkey, so our financial situation is deteriorating, especially because life is difficult here and because he insisted we finish our studies.” These, he believes, are the reasons that pushed his father to migrate.

The family’s story is recalled by Mohannad like a newsreel. “We left Deir Ezzor and headed to Damascus when the bombing first started and the government forces besieged the city.” The family stayed in Damascus in order for him to get treatment for his injury, while his father stayed in Deir Ezzor. “He came and visited us every two months or so to check on us, then he would return to Deir Ezzor. He would have to make a dangerous trip because he was wanted by all the security forces.” This was because he was a physiotherapist treating people in the area under the control of Syrian opposition groups.

After Mohannad’s treatment in Damascus, the family headed towards Al-Raqqa where they stayed for three months before moving, with their father, to Turkey when Daesh entered Deir Ezzor. Following his injury, Mohannad was no longer thinking of anything apart from his studies, which he was unable to continue in Syria because of the war.

Can dreams be stopped?

Europe is working hard to deal with the humanitarian and political consequences of the influx of refugees, most of whom have fled from conflicts in the Middle East and are seeking asylum. There was an influx of tens of thousands of Syrians going to the Aegean coast in Turkey during the summer to board boats for nearby Greek islands. In some cases, these islands are only four kilometres away.

Some European countries believe that welcoming the refugees who have reached the continent by illegal means will encourage others to make the same perilous journey. However, these concerns do not convince Mohannad, because he believes that he was the victim of a “dictatorship” that paralysed his body, while his soul is eager to fly, to go on with his life, finish his treatment, and complete his studies in what is now known as the new Promised Land: Germany.

Translated from The Huffington Post Arabi on 10 September 2015