The public should be "getting involved" and "do something physical" if they see a police officer being attacked, according to the Met Police's commissioner.

Cressida Dick said the recent trend of people filming attacks on police and mockingly posting the footage online was "absolutely awful".

She said: "Officers getting assaulted and people thinking that's funny and putting it on the internet - I think that's disgusting."

Last month a video of two officers being attacked in Merton, south London, was shared thousands of times after a passing driver stopped to film the assault and posted it on Twitter with the caption "south London at night...lol".

The officers had stopped a car and were attempting to arrest the three occupants, but one ended up being dragged around in the road while the other took a flying kick to the chest and landed feet from the path of a moving bus.

Eventually they arrested one of the men with the help of a passing motorcyclist.