Dubai: Two men have been accused of assaulting a policeman with stones and beating him when he tried to handcuff one of them while they were placing massage service cards on car windshields.

The Nigerian men, aged 25 and 29, were said to be putting massage service cards on cars in Al Nahda area when a police patrol was dispatched to the area in May. One of the policemen presented his police ID to the 25-year-old man, who turned quickly and tried to run away.

Records showed when the policeman grabbed the suspect in an attempt to prevent him from absconding, the Nigerian resisted him for a while but the policeman shackled his one hand with the handcuff.

When the policeman tried to shackle the second hand, the 25-year-old shouted loudly before his countryman rushed to help him and prevent the policeman from apprehending him.

The 29-year-old then ran quickly and threw a stone at the policeman’s leg while the 25-year-old punched him on his chest. Then the 25-year-old picked up a stone and attacked the policeman.

The 25-year-old managed to free himself and run away from the injured policeman.

The two Nigerians were arrested shortly after the incident.

Prosecutors accused the Nigerian duo of assaulting the policeman and injuring him.

The suspects pleaded not guilty when they showed up before the Dubai Court of First Instance on Wednesday.

The 25-year-old told presiding judge Fahd Al Shamsi that he did not beat the policeman.

“I beat him but I did not know that he is a policeman when the incident happened,” the 29-year-old told the court.

When asked by presiding judge Al Shamsi if the 25-year-old suspect had participated in the assault, the 29-year-old replied: “Yes he did … but we were not aware that the person is a policeman.”

The assaulted policeman claimed to prosecutors that the incident happened when he and his partners were commissioned to apprehend persons putting massage cards on windshields.

“We headed to Al Nahda where we spotted a group of African men putting massage cards on windshields … one of them tried to run away when I tried to handcuff him. He and his countryman assaulted me physically and with a stone,” he testified to prosecutors.

A ruling will be heard on August 9.