Papua New Guinea’s Acting Police Commissioner has vowed to reprimand a group of officers who appear to be caught on camera stomping on, kicking and beating a group of people with their guns.
The 18-minute video, which went viral after being uploaded to Facebook on Monday, appears to have been shot from afar on a mobile phone.
The footage appears to show three men lying on the road after apparently being captured by the police officers.
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Officers appear to begin stomping on and hitting the men with sticks and guns.
The men are continually assaulted as they lay motionless on the ground.
Acting Police Commissioner David Manning said in a statement he was “shocked” by the footage and that it depicts a “clear case of excessive use of force” because the men did not resist.
“Whatever their alleged crimes, police had no right to assault the three persons like that,” he said.
“I am shocked at the manner in which the policemen continued to assault the men as they lay defenceless on the ground.
“This behaviour is not expected of members of the Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary.
“I will have this matter investigated and the policemen responsible will be swiftly dealt with.”
The video was also shared and condemned inside a Facebook group called “PNG Police Brutality”.
“This is a blatant use of abusive and ruthless force,” one member wrote.
“All officers [sic] whether they applied physical action or just watched the continuation of the extreme brutality should be held accountable and judged accordingly,” wrote another.
It comes fifteen months after another case of alleged police brutality in PNG went viral.
In that video, officers appear to whip and kick a teenager in front of at least two dozen witnesses.
Additional reporting: Evan Young
