Syrian family tripped by Hungarian camerawoman meet Real Madrid
The family of the Syrian man who was tripped up by a Hungarian camerawoman as they fled across the border at Röszke got the chance to meet Real Madrid on Friday, after the incident shone a light on their story.
Osama Abdul Mohsen fell while running across the Serbia-Hungary border last week.
He said he and his seven-year-old son Zaid had endured a difficult journey to Europe, after meeting with another son, 18-year-old Mohammad, who had already reached Europe by boat.
The family arrived by train in Madrid this week.
Image caption Osama Abdul Mohsen (3rd R), the Syrian refugee who made world headlines when a Hungarian journalist tripped him over as he fled, poses with his sons Zaid (L) and Mohamed (2nd R) and two representatives of the Spanish football coaching school CENAFE at
Atocha train station in Madrid
Real Madrid arranged for the family to meet the players this week and invited them to the stadium to watch the match against Granada on Saturday.
In a statement released by the club, Osama said “Real Madrid are my team, and my whole family’s too”
“In Syria we dreamed of seeing a Real Madrid match, and now that’s going to come true. I’m really happy”.
Mr Mohsen, who coached a football team in Syria, has now been offered a job at a sports school near Madrid.
He has said he was “very, very happy” to be in Spain, and said he hoped his wife and two other children, who are in a refugee camp in Turkey, would be able to join him.
The Hungarian journalist who was filmed kicking and tripping migrants near the Serbian border has apologised and insisted she is not a “heartless, racist, child-kicking camerawoman”.
Petra Laszlo said in a letter to the Magyar Nemzet newspaper (in Hungarian) that “something snapped” in her as migrants broke through a police cordon.
She said that she reacted out of panic and felt she had to “defend herself”.
Prosecutors have opened a criminal investigation into the incident.
Source: www.bbc.co.uk