Flinders St station cop strife

A VICTORIAN cop has been suspended after video surfaced showing him flinging a Melbourne man headfirst to the ground at Flinders Street station.

Footage of the incident, which occurred on September 22 during a week of unrest in Melbourne over construction workers being forced into mandatory vaccinations, was shared widely on social media.

That same day, hundreds of demonstrators staged a sit-in at the Shrine of Remembrance, where riot police fired rubber bullets into the crowd to move them on after a two-hour standoff.

A police spokeswoman confirmed on Wednesday that an acting sergeant from a specialist support unit had been suspended as a result of early investigations into the Flinders Street train station incident.

The shocking footage shows an officer walking up behind the man standing in Flinders Street station before grabbing him around the chest and slamming him headfirst into the ground.

The victim appears to be standing in the station talking to several other police officers, when the officer approached him from behind.

The officer grabs the man by the shoulders and sling tackles him headfirst into the tiled floor, causing his headphones to go flying.