China: Outrage after women were brutally attacked at a Tangshan restaurant

Horrific footage of women being attacked at a restaurant in China has sparked debate about misogynistic violence in the country.

Nine men brutally attacked a group of four women in a restaurant after one objected to the sexual harassment.

In footage captured by CCTV in the northeastern city of Tangshan, a man can be seen walking up to a seated woman and putting his hand on her back.

As she pushes his hand away, he continues to stand over her and punches her in the face as she asks him to leave.

Several other men join the violence and attack them, one being hit with a chair and another being dragged out of the restaurant by his hair.

It reportedly happened around 2:40 a.m. on June 10.

Two women suffered non-life-threatening injuries and were treated in hospital, officials said.

All nine suspects involved in the case had been arrested as of Saturday afternoon and an investigation is ongoing, according to a police update.

The footage went viral on Chinese social media, highlighting violence against women in China.

On Weibo, which has more than half a million users, discussion of the video occupied the top six most popular topics.

In a brief online comment, state television called for the suspects to be severely punished.

A widely shared WeChat post on Saturday questioned the initial official portrayal of the attack as a simple act of violence.

The anonymous post said: “This happened in a society where violence against women is rampant… To ignore and suppress the gender perspective is to deny the violence that human beings – as women – are subjected to.”

China Women’s News, published by the All-China Women’s Federation, said in a comment on Saturday that “there can and must be zero tolerance for such vicious cases of serious violations of women’s rights and interests.”

In February, the plight of a woman in Feng County in eastern Jiangsu Province sparked a public outcry after she appeared with her neck tied in a video that went viral on social media.

The shocking footage of the woman, who was reportedly being held in a garden shed while her husband and children lived in a house, horrified social media users.

Officials’ response was initially muted, but the Communist Party eventually conducted an investigation under public pressure.

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