A shocked British tourist watched police officers grapple with an irate Chinese man at a station in Thailand.

Pedro Lachab, 42, from Buckinghamshire, England, said he went to Pattaya City Police Station for directions when he heard the commotion.

Footage shows Pedro sticking around to witness the Chinese visitor clashing with Thai authorities in the waiting area.

The Chinese man in a red shirt and carrying a string bag argued and threatened to hit a female officer inside.

The Brit could hear the shouting from the entrance while other tourists were busy nearby on February 19.

He said in the video: 'It's all kicking off in the police station. My guy's got the handcuffs out.'

Pedro rotated the camera once more to show the surroundings near the beach and panned again to the chaos inside the station.

The Chinese man was seen being restricted by another cop while the foreigner struggled to free from his grips.

When the altercation became more aggressive, Pedro turned around to see what was happening.

Two cops had tried to haul the Chinese man up.

Pedro added in the video: 'Just pay your fine, bro.'

One police had his arms around the neck of the Chinese man while the other officer handcuffed him.

More police helped to restrict him. The Chinese man shouted: 'Call the Chinese Embassy.'

Pedro said: 'So I was outside the police station because the McKinney movie was being filmed that day outside. Then I can hear the police shouting.

'He was a Chinese foreigner because at the end of the video, you can hear him. He said call the Chinese embassy. And I'll see his accent as well so I can tell he was Chinese.'

Pedro added he was unsure why the Chinese man was arrested but claimed a woman contacted him.

He said: 'After I posted the video, there's this woman. She told me the problem was him at the hotel. He sort of walked into the wall.

'So he hurt his glasses or head. Then demanded the boss lady at the hotel to pay him for being hurt.

'He needed to pay the fine maybe for the hotel or the conversation for the lady.'

The Chinese man was eventually hauled upstairs where he was believed to have been detained in a cell.

Former fishing village Pattaya became popular with American troops on 'rest and relaxation' breaks in the 1950s and 1960s when the U.S. military had bases in Thailand while fighting Communism in Vietnam. Rural families are said to have even dressed their sons as women to cash in on the gold rush.

The handful of bars in the coastal town quickly grew and it is now the world's biggest sex holiday destination, with round-the-clock prostitution and drugs - a modern-day Sodom and Gomorrah rife with crime and debauchery.

Government chiefs have attempted to clean up the city but regular violence, depravity and claims of corruption continue to blight its reputation.