A traffic official has been hailed for keeping his cool while allegedly being harassed by a motorist.

In video footage doing the rounds on social media, the officer is seen being questioned by a man about a parking ticket.

"Why do you give me a ticket when I am parked in a parking space?" the man asks.

Unlike in similar incidents that go viral because the confrontation turns ugly, the officer tells the man to point the camera towards him so he can "see properly" before he responds.

"I am giving you a ticket for parking in the wrong parking. Are you interrogating me?"

The officer insists the man approach the court if he has a problem with the ticket.

Before walking back to his car, the officer says: "Thank you, sir, and enjoy the rest of your day."

The man then follows the officer to his car, telling him to "take action against a car guard" who allegedly harassed his sister.

"Sir, please move, excuse me," the officer says.

"Don't bump me, why are you bumping me? I want you to take action against the car guard," the man says.

While the officer is trying to leave, the man stands by his window, claiming the officer is trying "to run him over".

A few seconds later, the officer gets out of his car and arrests the man.

"Meneer, I am arresting you for harassing me."

The man openly refuses to comply. A woman joins the discussion and says: "Why do you want to run him over? You won’t, you won’t."

The officer remains calm and places the man in handcuffs.

"I am not fighting you. You can record as much as you want to record me, but I am going to arrest you for interfering in my official capacity," he says.

It was not immediately clear where the incident took place, but people who viewed the clip were impressed with the way the officer handled the situation.

Many social media users praised the officer for the manner in which he handled the situation.

"For all of you making it a race thing, shame on you. I agree that guy was irritating and defeating the ends of justice and the traffic officer acted professional and calm. I have huge respect for him and disgrace for the person that was provoking him. See, no colour or race mentioned. People we are in one country that we have to live in together!" a comment read.

"Kudos to the officer. This dutchman is giving the rest of us Afrikaners a bad name with his little annoying voice, annoyingly crap English and crappy attitude. I was kind of hoping he’d get clapped but the officer is obviously a better person than I am. Such a well mannered bloke," a second read.

A third comment read: "The guy recording this is an opportunist who clearly has another agenda to belittle an officer and shame him in the same light as the corrupt and incompetent officers out there. Well done to this officer for being professional, patient and standing his ground. To the guy recording unlucky for not being the sharpest pencil in the pencil box."

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