This is the shocking moment a man tries to snatch a little girl as she walks with her mother.

CCTV footage from Neihu district in Taiwanese capital Taipei shows the mum walking her seven-year-old daughter home from school when the man struck.

The suspect Chou, 33, who later claimed it was a case of mistaken identity, can be seen standing outside a restaurant when he spots the mother and daughter, and suddenly reaches out his arm to grab the child’s rucksack.

The girl appears to scream and her mother does too, with the parent desperately trying to pull her daughter away from the man, who refuses to let go of the schoolgirl’s bag.

The girl is lifted into the air and the two grown-ups then involved in a game of "human tug-of-war", reports described.

Restaurant staff and a number of passers-by came to the mother’s aid and Chou eventually let go and walked away from the area.

Wu and her daughter were both shaken by the incident but not injured, police from Dahu Precinct said.

They said the suspect claimed he mistook the mother and child for someone else, the police added without elaborating.

Authorities investigating the incident revealed Chou to be a licensed lifeguard working as an instructor at a nearby public swimming pool.

He has since been sacked from his job after being detained on forcible compulsion charges.

This is the shocking moment a man tries to snatch a little girl as she walks with her mother.

CCTV images from Neihu district in Taiwanese capital Taipei shows the mum walking her seven-year-old daughter home from school when the man struck.

The suspect Chou, 33, who later claimed it was a case of mistaken identity, can be seen standing outside a restaurant when he spots the mother and daughter, and suddenly reaches out his arm to grab the child’s rucksack.

The girl appears to scream and her mother does too, with the parent desperately trying to pull her daughter away from the man, who refuses to let go of the schoolgirl’s bag.

The girl is lifted into the air and the two grown-ups then involved in a game of "human tug-of-war", reports described.

Restaurant staff and a number of passers-by came to the mother’s aid and Chou eventually let go and walked away from the area.

Wu and her daughter were both shaken by the incident but not injured, police from Dahu Precinct said.

They said the suspect claimed he mistook the mother and child for someone else, the police added without elaborating.

Authorities investigating the incident revealed Chou to be a licensed lifeguard working as an instructor at a nearby public swimming pool.

He has since been sacked from his job after being detained on forcible compulsion charges.