A video of a violent assault that appears to have occurred in Winnipeg has surfaced on a video sharing site called Vidme.

Winnipeg police say they were made aware of the video through social media and are investigating. Police are asking the public to contact them if they witness a crime, or see video of one on social media.

"We always want to caution people to not just post videos on social media but to actually phone police and make a report of what they have seen or what they have witnessed," said Patrol Sergeant Andree Huberdeau.

The video shows a woman and a cyclist on the ground on a sidewalk. The woman is crying and appears to be injured. A man enters the video and appears to assault the cyclist, first by kicking him in the head, then punching him.

A Winnipeg bus stop is visible in the background. Based on the surroundings, the video appears to be taken at Salter Street and Boyd Avenue.

It's not known when this video was recorded or who posted the video to Vidme. The video was posted on Thursday and has more than 1500 views.

The description on the video said "don't ride on the sidewalk in Winnipeg", but details surrounding what took place are not known.

Vidme is a video sharing site that allows videos to be posted without creating an account and can be easily shared on other social media sites.