A VIDEO posted on several social networking websites which shows a brutal attack on a female student in Hong Kong has sparked a police investigation.
The footage had been posted on YouTube and Online.hk before it was removed last Friday because it was flagged as containing offensive content, reported Hong Kong's South China Morning Post.
The video, which is about 11/2 minutes long, is still accessible on Facebook and Youku, a popular video-sharing website in China.
The video shows eight girls punching and kicking the victim, who appears to be in a school uniform.
One of her attackers jumps off a wall and pulls the victim to the ground before others join in to stomp on the victim.
It is unclear when the video was filmed, although the students are wearing winter school uniforms.
There is speculation that the attack could have taken place in Tin Shui Wai last year.
The video clip is thought to have been recorded by one of the attackers.
The initials SHW are also seen on one of the girls' uniforms.
Some Internet users have commented that judging from the initials, some of the attackers could be students from Shi Hui Wen Secondary School, located in the Tuen Mun district in Hong Kong.
Apple Daily reported that a netizen has made a police report identifying one of the alleged attackers.
The newspaper said in its report that the principal of Shi Hui Wen Secondary School, Mr Choi Wing Tim, has confirmed that one of the attackers was from the school.
Mr Choi also told Apple Daily that he had been contacted by police over the incident.
Oriental Daily reported that the attackers were from that school as well as another school from Tin Shui Wai, in Hong Kong's NewTerritories.
The video clip has provoked a wave of outragefrom Internet users.
"Are they humans? How can they do that?" wrote one netizen on Youku.
Another asked: "Are they mad? Why would those who beat her up film it and post it online?"
A spokesman from Hong Kong's Education Bureau said staff would follow up on the incident with schools after the public holiday.
A police spokesman said that they would look into the incident.
This article was first published in The New Paper.
