HONG KONG (AP) – Chinese authorities arrested nine people on suspicion of violently assaulting several women at a restaurant after surveillance footage of the attack sparked widespread outrage.
Footage from a barbecue restaurant in Tangshan in northern Hebei province, time stamped 2.40am on Friday, showed one of the men approaching a table where a party of four women were seated and placing his hand on a woman’s back.
She rebuffed him several times before he flew into a rage and slapped her, prompting her to fight back.
A brawl ensued, with a group of men entering the restaurant and brutally attacking the woman and her dining partners, including shoving them to the ground, kicking them and throwing a chair at them.
Footage taken from outside the restaurant also showed the attackers dragging the woman who had initially rebuffed the man’s advances out of the establishment before being viciously beaten, with most passersby and patrons of the restaurant looking on. Photographs of her lying on a stretcher, with a swollen and bloodied face, as well as footage of the attack, went viral online.
All nine suspects were arrested on Saturday, according to a statement by authorities issued on microblogging platform Weibo.
Two women had also sustained non-life-threatening injuries and were receiving treatment in a hospital.
Their condition was reported to be stable. Two others were slightly injured.
