The Metropolitan Police has released a statement after a 20-second clip of an arrest in Tower Hamlets went viral over the weekend.
In the clip, which has been viewed over 160k times on Twitter, two officers can be seen trying to detain a male as a large crowd surrounds them.
One of the female officers can be seen trying to place a male in cuffs, but he appears to be resisting.
Officers had been called to the area by members of the public following reports that a large group of youths were throwing eggs and flour.
When officers arrived on the scene, their marked police vehicle was pelted with eggs.
Members of the crowd can be heard shouting, ‘leave him, leave him’ as the officers continue to try and detain the male.
The partial clip of the arrest was captioned with: ‘I’m disgusted. Here is my 16-year-old nephew being wrongfully arrested on his last day at school.
‘Even thou [sic] he complied with instructions is threatened with being tased.
‘Excessive forcce being used on a child! This is outragerous!’
A spokesperson for Tower Hamlets Police said:
‘At 16:12 hours on Thursday 12th, May, police were called to Watney Street, Tower Hamlets, following a number of calls reporting that youths were gathering and throwing flour and eggs.
‘On arrival, officers witnessed a male throwing eggs at a police vehicle. They stopped the male, whose clothing was covered in flour and eggs and arrested him on suspicion of criminal damage.
‘A crowd gathered as the arrest took place, and additional officers had to be called in to restore order.
‘The male, who was aged 16, was taken to an east London police station where he made a full admission and apologised.
‘This allowed the matter to be dealt with by way of a Community Resolution Order.’
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