A witness, who filmed the incident, said the shoplifter hadn't been violent to staff.
This is the moment Sainsbury’s staff drag a suspected shoplifter into a backroom and repeatedly kick him as he lies on the floor.
A shocked customer filmed the incident, which happened at a branch in Mile End Road, Tower Hamlets, London.
One staff member can be heard shouting ‘stay the f*** down’ as three of four employees pull the man into a storeroom by the collar of his jacket.
The man appears distressed and is heard shouting ‘Allahu akbar’, Arabic for God is Greatest and ‘I’m sorry’.
The staff can then be seen kicking the man a number of times while he’s on the floor, before one of them spots they’re being filmed and puts his hand up to the camera. The footage then ends.
The shopper who filmed the attack on Saturday evening last week (May 11) told MailOnline they did not feel the level of force used by the supermarket staff was necessary.
‘The shoplifter was quite unclean but he wasn’t violent to the shop workers,’ they said.
‘He was committing a crime (but) did not deserve to be punched and kicked repeatedly whilst on the floor. He could easily have simply been restrained and detained.
‘I suspect they stopped once they saw me recording. My worry was that the shoplifter was detained for such a long time he would continue to have been abused.’
The witness said they phoned police to report what happened and also flagged down a police car in the street to show officers the video.
They have since given a witness statement.
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The Metro has contacted the Metropolitan Police for a comment.
A Sainsbury’s spokesperson told us they were ‘urgently investigating’ the incident.
In October the Office for National Statistics revealed shoplifting had risen by 25% in the 12 months up to June.
The Co-op said its food business lost £33 million in the first six months of 2023.
According to a Marks & Spencer’s chairman, middle class shoplifters were partly to blame for the rise in shoplifting.
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