The police in Tonga are investigating a video posted online that appears to show a police officer repeatedly hitting and kicking a boy at a rugby game.
The video was posted to facebook yesterday, and shows an officer allegedly punching the boy in the face, and continuing to hit and kick the boy when he falls over.
It comes less than a month after police officers were imprisoned for the manslaughter of New Zealand constable Kali Fungavaka.
Tonga's Police Commissioner, Grant O'Fee, says the incident took place last Friday, and the officer allegedly involved has been identified.
He says he has made it very clear to staff that this kind of behaviour is not tolerated, and offenders will be brought to account and punished.
"Somewhere between 30 and 40 officers have been dismissed in two years, not all for acts of brutality, but many have been. And we will continue to do that, when these things are brought to my notice, we will act on them and we do, and will continue to do that. But we're also trying to develop the very good decent officers that we have in the Tonga police, and there are many of them, to continue to behave decently and with respect towards the people of Tonga."
Grant O'Fee says the officer has not been stood down as yet, but a decision on that will be made later today.
A screenshot from a video posted to facebook which allegedly shows a police officer in Tonga repeatedly punching and kicking a young boy. Photo: Facebook
