British Foreign Office minister Mark Field was suspended Friday after footage circulated online showing him grabbing a female climate protester by the neck and shoving her at a dinner this week, The Guardian reported.
According to the news outlet, British Prime Minister Theresa May decided to suspend Field after reviewing the video.
{mosads}“She found it very concerning. The police have said they are looking into reports over this matter,” her spokeswoman said in a statement to the publication.
“He will be suspended as a minister while this investigation takes place. Mansion House are looking into the breach of security that took place and we believe it is right they are now reviewing their security arrangements.”
In footage of the incident, the protester, a Greenpeace activist, can be seen walking along the wall of a room in which a black-tie event where Chancellor Philip Hammond was set to hold a speech was taking place. As the protester walked past a number of seated guests, she can then be seen being seized by Field before she could walk past.
Field is then seen grabbing the protester by the neck as she struggles to break loose. Field is then seen shoving her against a pillar in the room.
The protester was reportedly demonstrating at the dinner on behalf of Greenpeace, a climate advocacy group that prides itself of using nonviolent “creative action to pave the way towards a greener, more peaceful world, and to confront the systems that threaten our environment.”
Authorities have opened an investigation into reports of assault made against Field over the incident.
Field has also since reportedly issued an apology to the woman for “grabbing her,” however, he claimed that he was acting out of defense because he believed she might have been armed.