BUENOS AIRES, Argentina – Argentines expressed outrage Friday over a police interrogation cellphone video circulating widely on the Internet, with many condemning police torture as a common practice that has long been tolerated by the country’s politicians.

The clip shows officers abusing two half-naked suspects inside a police compound in General Guemes, a small town in the northwest province of Salta. One man begs for mercy as an officer puts a plastic bag on his head, while another is forced to his knees in a painful position.

It wasn’t immediately clear when it happened, who recorded it and how the video reached the Internet, where it spread widely, prompting hundreds of comments on Twitter and Argentine media sites.

“Clean up the force! They think because they’re police they have the power to do whatever they want!” said a typical complaint, posted by “Diego” on the El Tribuno of Salta’s website. Others blamed the victims in the video, saying juvenile delinquents are responsible for soaring drug violence and crime in the country.

Activists said the real tragedy is that Argentina’s police routinely use torture against defenseless suspects.

“This is news because someone put the video on the Internet. If these images didn’t exist, these two kids would be part of the army of police station torture victims that nobody worries about and has no social impact,” said Maria del Carmen Verdu, who runs CORREPI, a watchdog against institutional and police repression.

Provincial authorities responded Thursday by detaining the five officers seen on the recording. Provincial Security Minister Eduardo Sylvester said they will be prosecuted as criminals.

“The government of the province is convinced that these men do not represent the Salta police force,” Sylvester said. “Their detention has been ordered because we are not prepared to tolerate these kinds of things.”