A policeman in southern China has sparked outrage after pepper-spraying an 80yr-old man in southern China.

In the clip captured on May 13, a policeman pepper-sprayed the eyes of an elderly man after he thought the man was interfering with his duty.

After being sprayed, the old man was in great pain, sat on the pedals of an electric car and cried constantly.

Passersby who filmed the video expressed their dissatisfaction and questioned the police's actions, and the policeman responded angrily, "Didn't you notice that he tried fighting with me?”

According to passersby, two female students riding electric vehicles were stopped by the road traffic police who thought the students were breaking the traffic regulations.

The policeman asked the students to get off their vehicles and if they didn't, he would use the pepper spray. Then the old man and the other passersby came over to dissuade the traffic police.

The police officer was very angry, thinking that the passersby were interfering with his work, and was about to pepper-spray one of the passersby.

The old man came over to stop the police. As a result, the old man had a quarrel with the traffic policeman; during the quarrel, the officer pepper-sprayed him.

Chinese netizens are questioning if the traffic policeman was overreacting.

One said: “If there’s anything that the elderly man did wrong, the police should talk it through with him, instead of using pepper spray”,

Another said: “If the elderly man gets any worse with his eyes, the police should be responsible for that."

At present, the local police station has suspended the policeman and is further investigating the case.

The video is filmed in Hangzhou and provided by local media.

A policeman is suspended and sparks outrage after pepper-spraying an 80yr-old man in southern China.