Riot police in Iran were caught sexually assaulting a female protester in a video which has sparked uproar on social media.

The shocking incident took place during demonstrations in Tehran’s Argentina Square on Wednesday, according to the BBC.

They erupted last month after 22-year-old Mahsa Amini died in the custody of the morality police, who enforce the Islamic Republic’s strict dress code.

Police say she suffered a heart attack after being taken to a station to be ‘educated’, but her family deny she had any heart problems and claim she had bruises on her legs from being beaten. 

Several videos of protests have gone viral, with the latest showing a woman being detained by officers in riot gear, who march her towards a motorbike.

As they surround her, one can be seen forcefully grabbing her behind before she crumples to the floor.

The woman can then be seen standing up and running away from the scene.

Mahsa Amini died after being arrested in Tehran, Iran, by the Islamic republic’s so-called morality police (Picture: Newsflash)

A protester holds a portrait of her (Picture: AFP via Getty Images)

Iran’s president has accused the US of conducting a ‘failed policy of destabilisation’, as protesters continued to call for the downfall of its rulers despite a violent and wide-ranging crackdown.

The protests, in which girls and women have removed their mandatory headscarves, or hijabs, have become one of the greatest challenges to Iran’s theocracy since the 2009 Green Movement.

Raisi, a hard-line protégé of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has likened the protesters to ‘flies’ and sought to downplay the unrest.

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The shocking incident took place during demonstrations in Tehran’s Argentina Square on Wednesday.