This Woman In China Was Attacked After She Rejected A Man Sexually Harassing Her In A Restaurant
Four women were slapped, attacked and pushed to the ground after one of them resisted sexual harassment from a man in a barbecue restaurant in Tangshan, China.
Four women were slapped, attacked and pushed to the ground after one of them resisted sexual harassment from a man in a barbecue restaurant in Tangshan, China.
According to the surveillance footage from Friday June 10, a man approached the women’s table and placed his hand on one of the women’s backs.
The woman then pushed him away, but the man refused to leave the table and continued reaching out again for her face.
He then slapped the woman, and her friends retaliated by smashing a beer bottle on his head.
Immediately afterwards, the man pushed the woman and her friends to the ground, as his friends joined him in attacking them.
They then dragged the first women outside the restaurant by her hair, repeatedly beating and kicking her while she is lying on the ground.
Tangshan police said two women had been sent to the hospital after being attacked and were in stable condition, while another two women had minor injuries, CNN reported.
Video footage of the incident quickly went viral on Chinese social media, and shock and anger reverberated online.
Some state media reports initially downplayed the man’s act of sexual harassment as “trying to strike up a conversation” and “gang issues”, drawing backlash from women readers, and the attack rekindled debate about violence against women and gender inequality in China.
After outrage spread, Tangshan police issued a statement on Friday, and the nine suspects’ identities were revealed.
By Saturday afternoon, all nine suspects had been apprehended, including two who had fled the province.
Rights groups have noted that the assault was not an isolated case and called for China to incorporate more content about gender equality in education to eliminate systematic gender violence.
