Student union elections turn violent at UQ

Student union elections have turned violent at a top Queensland university, with one man charged after he allegedly king hit a campaigner.

Footage of the incident at The University of Queensland on Monday has been uploaded on social media, and shows a man chasing and then punching a campaigner in the back of the head, causing him to fall to the ground.

UQ Union president Joshua Millroy has told Fairfax he and others had to physically restrain the attacker, who was allegedly abusing campaigners before the violence erupted.

He said the injured campaigner didn't need hospital care but suffered cuts to the back of the head and was shaken.

"We all know that student elections at UQ tend to get pretty hot and heated (but) this is one of the first times I have seen people engaged in physical violence of this nature so publicly," Mr Millroy said.

Police have charged a 21-year-old Brisbane man with assault occasioning bodily harm and common assault.

He's accused of king hitting the campaigner and also spitting on another man at the university's St Lucia campus in Brisbane. He'll face the Brisbane Magistrates Court on October 28.