A gang of thugs forced their way into a mini-market and battered a woman and her husband in front of their three-year-old daughter.
Shopkeeper Andrei Ionescu said the group did not appear to be after money or goods, but unleashed their attack after being asked to move away from the area outside the door of the Magazin Romanesc in Leyton High Road.
Instead of getting out the way so he could shut up shop, he said, they barged their way in and began savagely pummelling Mr Ionescu and his wife Andreea Constanescu.
Scotland Yard today released CCTV footage of the horrifying assault in the hope of tracking down the thugs responsible.
Mr Ionescu, 42, told the Standard: "They were animals. To hit a woman with a baby in her property, just for being asked to get outside - they weren't human.
"I wasn't prepared. I didn't know they were so violent. The worst thing is my daughter was there and she saw her mum [being hit]."
The video shows Mr Ionescu gamely trying to fight off the first man as he barges his way through the door. A second man tries to separate them but then more people pile into the narrow shop, two of them landing repeated blows on the couple.
"I was trying to get outside because it was closing time," Mr Ionescu said. "About 10 people were outside smoking. I was trying to get outside and one of them collapsed into the shop.
"They started shouting and swearing at me - bad words and stuff like that.
"They didn't let me get out. I said to them: 'Listen, if you don't let me get out I'll call the police.' Then they started hitting me and me wife."
Fortunately, the couple escaped with only minor injuries.
Mr Ionescu, who has run the specialist Romanian grocery for five years, said nothing like the assault had ever taken place in his store before.
The shop is a stone's throw from Leyton Orient's Brisbane Road home ground.
If you recognise either of the men in the picture, police urge you to call 101, quoting reference number 182418 (for the man in the short-sleeved pale shirt) or 182419 (for the man in the darker shirt and dark trousers). Alternatively, you can call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
