Nine people have been arrested in China on suspicion of violently assaulting several women in a restaurant.
Surveillance images of a barbecue restaurant in Tangshan, northern Hebei Province, clocked at 2.40am on Friday, showed one of the men approaching a table where there was a group of four women sitting and putting their hand on the back of a woman.
She slapped him several times before he slapped her, prompting her to fight, causing a fight.
A group of men entered the restaurant and attacked the woman and her dining companions, including pushing them to the ground, kicking them and throwing a chair at them.
Images of the restaurant’s exterior showed the attackers dragging the woman who had rejected the man’s advances before she was beaten, with passers-by and others watching.
Images of her lying on a stretcher, with her face swollen and bloodied, as well as the CCTV of the attack provoked widespread outrage online.
The nine suspects were arrested on Saturday, according to a statement from authorities.
Two of the women suffered non-life-threatening injuries and were receiving hospital treatment.
His condition was reported to be stable and two others were slightly injured.
One Weibo user who was one of the first to post described it as “heartbreaking”, adding: “Does this mean that dining out is so unsafe now that we have to take men with us everywhere?” These men) are no different from thugs. “
By Sunday, the images had received more than 68 million views and the video of the assault on the outside had been removed.
Social media users have condemned the attack and criticized Tangshan police for being slow in detaining the suspects, while the incident has also renewed the conversation about the treatment of women in China.
Earlier this year, another viral video showed a woman chained to a wall in a shack, shouting after officials denied she was a victim of human trafficking.
It was later found that she had been sold as a bride.