A police force has said it is reviewing a video which shows one of its officers punching a boy.
The footage circulated on social media shows a Merseyside Police officer punching what appears to be teenage boy three times while holding a pair of metal handcuffs in the hand he is striking him with.
The force said officers had been responding on Friday to reports of about 20 youths in the Alder Wood Avenue area of Speke, Liverpool, blocking roads with wheelie bins and "aiming fireworks at anyone who tried to remove them".
"We would like to stress that a short clip doesn't always show the full context," a Merseyside Police spokesman said.
The footage being circulated on social media – which has been viewed more than 40,000 times – begins moments before the officer strikes the boy.
It does not show anything that happened in the run-up to the incident.
Merseyside Police said youths had reportedly "smashed windows of nearby flats, tried to start fires and threatened members of the public".
In the video, the boy is punched in the stomach, chest and throat before he is handcuffed and dragged off the ground by the officer, then led to a police van.
Another teenager can be seen being pulled from the ground as he is arrested.
After a complaint was made on Saturday, the force said its professional standards team would look into the incident.
"While we look to establish the full circumstances of what happened, we would urge people not to speculate and avoid sharing rumours or misinformation," the force said in a statement published on its website.
The incident happened the night before Halloween, on what in Liverpool has become known as "Mischief Night".
"We are determined to protect our communities from the sort of appalling behaviour that we historically see at this time of year.
"We have a contempt for criminality and a commitment to cracking down on people committing serious offences in Merseyside," a force spokesman added.
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