Video: Egyptian police beat Cairo Metro passenger

Mobile phone footage which appears to show police beating up a man in an underground station in Cairo went viral in Egypt on Wednesday, leading to a police investigation and local and international condemnation.

The video uploaded to YouTube shows a young man being restrained while an officer slaps, punches, knees and hurls abuse at the helpless man as he is dragged through Dar al-Salam metro station in Cairo.

According to the video's uploader, the man's fiancée had been sexually harassed by a gang of men, which led to him going to the police for assistance.

When officers refused to help and instead insulted him, a fight broke out.

"The police reject all transgressions committed by policemen against citizens,"police spokesman Abu Bakr Abd al-Karim told a local TV station.

"All the policemen in the video have been summoned for questioning," he added.

Amnesty International Egypt also condemned the incident, tweeting: "We call on the Egyptian Interior Ministry to end violence against citizens and launch an immediate investigation into this police officer."

Police brutality has been frequently reported in Egypt, despite reforms to security services being one of the main demands of the January 25 revolution in 2011.

Human rights groups in Egypt have also recently expressed concern for the rule of law in Egypt after a string of deaths in police custody.

Furthermore, the interior ministry announced police will "shoot to kill" protesters who will commemorate the second anniversary of the Rabaa massacre this Friday.

But the culture of impunity is not all-encompassing. In June, a court sentenced a police officer to 15 years in maximum security prison for killing activist Shaimaa al-Sabbagh.