Video of police officers being assaulted is from Australia, not England

Misleading claims that a video of a man assaulting police officers was filmed in the UK have been circulating on social media.

The clip has been shared on Facebook and X (formerly Twitter) with captions saying: “A migrant assaults a policewomen, he then tries to assault a policeman with a scooter. Arrested on the floor he has hold of another woman who screams out ‘get him off me’.

“From the accents, this is England.”

In the video, which contains some distressing scenes, a man on the edge of a beach can be seen grappling with police officers, before throwing a push scooter at one and being arrested.

But this footage is not from the UK.

Reverse image searching stills from the clip brings up several news articles featuring the video, which reportedly shows the arrest of a man on Christies Beach in Adelaide, Australia on 23 January 2024.

Reports claim the incident, which was recorded on a police body-worn camera, shows the events around the arrest of an Adelaide man Andrew Gollan, who was being pursued in relation to an alleged assault.

Journalist David Atherton, who shared the video on X, pointed Full Fact to a later post where he clarified “I am told this is Australia”.

A news outlet in Adelaide reported that Gollan appeared at the District Court in April 2025 after pleading guilty to two counts of assaulting a worker, and one count each of resisting a police officer and in doing so causing harm, aggravated causing harm with intent and damaging a building or motor vehicle. He is currently awaiting sentencing.

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