Nine held in Chinese city after fierce attack on women diners sends two to hospital
- Violent group assault came after one of the accused harassed a woman and slapped her when she rejected him
- Incident has shocked China, with one rights observer citing a culture of impunity for gender-based violence
The row erupted after one of the nine harassed a woman dining there and slapped her when she rejected him.
Viral security camera footage from Friday’s incident shows a man entering the eatery in the steel city of Hebei province and walking over to a group of four women dining there. He then appears to speak to one of them and put his hand on her back. She pushes him away twice, upon which he slaps her and gets into a fight with the others at the table.
A group of men then rush into the shop and assault the women, kicking them and throwing a chair before dragging them outside to continue the beating.
“The suspect, Chen, entered the barbecue shop and harassed one of the four women dining there and beat her, then his peers rushed into the shop, beat the victims, dragged them outside and kept beating them,” Tangshan police said on Chinese social media platform Weibo.
Two men were detained on Friday night, and the seven others on Saturday.