Fuss in China: women in restaurant severely dealt with after pushy man was rejected | Abroad

The assault took place at a barbecue restaurant in Tangshan, a city in northern Hebei province. The footage shows one of the men walking to a table where four women are sitting. He puts his hand on the back of one of them.

When that woman rejects him several times, he becomes furious and beats her. The woman fights back and a fight ensues. A group of men then storm into the restaurant. They attack the woman and her table companions. The women are thrown to the ground, kicked and even a chair is thrown at them.

The woman who had rejected the man’s advances is then dragged outside and beaten there. Passers-by and customers of the restaurant watch without intervening.

Photos of the victim lying on a stretcher with a swollen and bloody face are shared on the internet en masse. Two other women were taken to hospital with injuries. Their condition is stable. Two other women were slightly injured.

The “heartbreaking” images of the assault were shared on the social media platform Weibo. The video has been viewed more than 68 million times to date. “Does this mean that eating out is now so unsafe? Should we take men everywhere? These are criminals,” reads one of the many reactions.

The debate about hatred and violence against women in China is thus flaring up again. Earlier this year, a video of a woman chained to a wall in a hut caused a stir. Authorities initially denied that the woman was a victim of human trafficking. Later it turned out that she had been married off and sold.

The Tangshan police are now being accused of taking too long to arrest the suspects. China’s state broadcaster CCTV said in a commentary that the amok-makers should be severely punished and held accountable to their victims and the general public.