The Department of International Relations & Cooperation (DIRCO) is probing an incident where South African medical students were physically assaulted by Cuban police.

In a video that has been widely spread on social media, Cuban police officers can be seen slapping a student and beating others. It’s understood that the students were having a birthday celebration at a hostel in Santa Clara when someone complained about the noise and called the police.

In the video, the officers can be seen aggressively confronting the students instead of asking them to lower the volume. One student could be seen sitting on the couch with his hands tied behind his back while the other officers grabs him by the neck and shoulder slapping him on the chest.

Meanwhile, the Deputy Minister of Health, Dr Sibongiseni Dhlomo, appealed to the public to not sensationalize the video clip because it may cause harm to the families of the students, as well as ruin diplomatic relations between South Africa and Cuba.

[Picture: Screengrab]