FOOTAGE showing a cop “repeatedly punching” a black teenager in Tottenham has sparked angry protests and demands for the officers involved to be sacked. 

About 100 protesters marched to north London’s Tottenham police station today in response to the incident.

The shocking video, which was circulated on social media on Thursday night, appears to show an officer punching a black teenager in the head while pressed against a police car. 

Local anti-racist campaigners have accused the police of a “violent assault.”

The Met Police confirmed that an incident had taken place outside a school in north London at about 4.30pm on Tuesday. It said that officers had stopped a group of boys and detained one for the purposes of a stop and search. 

Four 16-year-olds have been arrested and three officers were injured, according to the Met. 

The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) has opened an investigation into the incident. 

Local campaigners told the Morning Star that the boy in the video has been left “traumatised.” 

At today’s protest, Haringey Independent Stop and Search Monitoring Group chairman Ken Hinds said: “The simple fact is that these youngsters were there just there to collect their certificates, their GCSE certificates. And because they haven’t seen their friends for some time … they were having a conversation outside school. So they weren’t being threatening or anything, they were just hanging out.”

Mr Hinds said that a clash broke out after the boys were approached by the police and one was “grabbed and thrown on the ground and put in handcuffs.” 

The boy was later let go and was not among the four arrested, Mr Hinds said. 

The protest was organised by the Black Lives Matter Movement – a Tottenham anti-racist group separate from Black Lives Matter UK – and supported by Stand Up to Racism (SUTR).

SUTR co-convenor … Bennett told the Morning Star that the video “demands answers.”

“The lesson from Black Lives Matter is that it’s important to hold authorities to account so that everybody gets justice.”

In a statement, the BLM Movement said: “The cop who perpetrated this violent assault must be sacked immediately and the other officer present at minimum immediately suspended.”

“This is yet another case of racist excessive use of force British policing,” Adam Elliott-Cooper of the Monitoring Group, an anti-racist collective of campaigners and lawyers, said.

“While [Police Commissioner] Cressida Dick denies institutional racism and plays down the problem of police brutality, the reality of this crisis is endured by the black and working-class communities of London.”

Local councillor Khaled Moyeed said he was “alarmed and shocked” by the footage and urged police to “investigate and take swift action.”

Mr Bennett added that Tottenham police have a “long history” of “arbitrary and unexplained attacks,” including the 2011 shooting of Mark Duggan which sparked widespread riots.

Detective Chief Superintendent Treena Fleming, who oversees policing in the area, said that a criminal investigation has been launched in response to the injuries sustained by officers. 

She added: “A public complaint has been received and we recognise the community concern around this incident, so we have made a voluntary referral to the Independent Office for Police Conduct. The IOPC has taken the investigation as independent.

“It is important to remember that videos show a snapshot in time and the wider context is not immediately obvious. I would ask that our communities allow us the time for the incident to be reviewed in full.”

The IOPC said that the 16-year-old sustained facial injuries during the incident.

IOPC regional director Sal Naseem said: “We are aware of the significant community concerns raised as a result of this incident. We have decided to independently investigate the complaint about the boy’s interactions with the police …

“We ask that anyone who has mobile footage of the incident to please retain it and we will issue a telephone number in due course where witnesses can make contact with the IOPC.”