Confronting footage has emerged of a pair of youths hurling watermelon at what appears to be a sleeping homeless man.

The video, taken in Newcastle in NSW, began circulating on social media on Wednesday.

WARNING: Confronting footage in the video above

In it, the two young men can be seen laughing as they creep up on a man apparently sleeping on a bus stop bench in the dead of night before they each throws half a watermelon at him.

The person behind the camera and the two men in the footage all flee before the video abruptly ends.

Since being shared on social media by another Newcastle local who described it as “putrid”, police have begun investigating.

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“Police are aware of the vision and are conducting inquiries,” a NSW police spokesperson told 7NEWS.com.au.

However, when the footage was shared to a community noticeboard on Facebook, locals threatened vigilante justice.

The two assailants purportedly in the footage have been approached for comment by 7NEWS.com.au.