A new mobile phone video that apparently shows policemen mistreating detainees was aired on TV yesterday as the force’s chief, Anastassios Dimoschakis, pledged to investigate any allegations about misbehavior by his officers.

The video shows five officers at Neos Cosmos precinct, near central Athens, forcing two transvestite prostitutes to perform erotic dances, which the policemen recorded on two mobile phones.

A preliminary investigation has been launched. Police sources said the force is bracing itself for more damaging revelations in the next few days.

Public Order Minister Vyron Polydoras said the “actual circumstances” of the incident had to be established.

Dimoschakis visited the offices of the Ombudsman yesterday following complaints by the watchdog that claims of police brutality are not investigated promptly. The police chief said that he would take the files on all the outstanding complaints with him and hand them to his closest aides for investigation.