Two uniformed police officers were violently assaulted by a group of up to 30 school children in New Cross.

The officers approached the group at the Goodwood Road junction of New Cross Road during routine patrols of the area on Wednesday, November 9 at about 4pm.

They noticed a large knife being concealed by a young man and attempted to search the suspect.

One of the officers was then punched in the face several times by some of the other youths, causing him to fall to the ground.

The second officer stepped in to help her colleague and was also punched in the jaw.

The group continued to assault the officer on the floor by repeatedly kicking him in the head, leaving him with serious bruising and damaging his mobile phone.

He was taken to a south London hospital as a precaution for his injuries.

A 15-year-old boy was arrested at the scene on suspicion of actual bodily harm and was taken to a south-London police station. He has been bailed to a date in mid-December.

A number of members of the public witnessed the attack and captured it on their mobile phones, and police are now urging those people to come forward.

Detective Sergeant Jenny White, of Lewisham police, said: "I'm appealing to anyone who witnessed this shocking attack on two officers to come forward and speak with us, particularly anyone with mobile phone footage of the incident.

"It happened at a very busy time of the day and there would've been a large number of people in the area.

"These officers go to work every day to keep the public safe and this demonstrates the dangers the police can face while carrying out these duties."

Anyone with any information is urged to contact Lewisham CID on 020 8284 8365 or 101 - alternatively get in touch with Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.