Opinion | It's the police's job to beat people, Chinese official says in viral video

A surprising statement by a government official in eastern China's Jiangsu province has captured the attention of internet users after it was caught on video and posted online on Sunday.

“If the police don’t beat people, what’s the point of keeping them?” said an unidentified official of a complaint bureau in Suzhou. “The police are the government’s violence machine.”

The clip of the statement has gotten more than two million views and has set off a barrage of criticism against police violence.

"He told the truth. The police are the government's thugs," a person posted on his Weibo microblog.

Police violence has been justified in China in school textbooks, and training manuals tell officers that the “the police are the government’s tool for violence”.