Images from a surveillance camera have gone viral and caused great outrage in China – and in several other parts of the world.
The incident took place at a barbecue restaurant in the city of Tangshan last Friday. Pictures show a man approaching a table where four women are sitting together. The man puts his hand on one of the women’s buttocks and the woman tries to reject him several times. The man gets angry and starts beating the woman who is forced to defend herself. During the ensuing brawl, another group of men enter the restaurant and begin beating the woman and her friends. Among other things, the women are pushed to the floor and subjected to kicks and blows. A man also throws a chair at the women.
Pictures, taken outside the restaurant, show how the men pull the woman who was first attacked out of the room to continue the beating there.
The videos and images from the attack on the women had on Sunday had more than 68 million views on social media.
The brutal beatings have once again brought to the fore the debate on misogyny and trafficking in women in China. Traditionally, such issues have been considered private and family matters. But a number of recent events have drawn attention to the problems. Among other things, a case earlier this year, in which a woman was found chained in a small scrub in the Chinese countryside, caused great outrage, even internationally.
On Saturday, nine suspects were arrested for the restaurant attack, according to a statement from the authorities published on the Chinese equivalent of Twitter, the microblog Weibo.