A BLACK police officer was chased by car and then beaten up by four white assailants, police said on Sunday. The victim, who was off-duty, was driving through the town of Potgietersrus, in the northeast of the country, on Saturday night when a car first followed then overtook him, forcing him to pull over. The four attackers dragged him out of his car and beat him up, shouting “This is Potgietersrus. It is not Thabo Mbeki’s town.” The officer managed to escape his attackers, who chased him until he was picked up by a passing motorist and taken to a police station.