(CNN) — Nine people have been arrested in China following an attack on four women in the northern city of Tangshan on Friday, local police said in a statement on Saturday.
Explicit security camera footage showing scenes of the incident was posted on social media on Friday, sparking national outrage and sparking heated discussions online regarding security and women’s rights in China.
Time-stamped surveillance footage circulating widely online shows a man entering a barbecue restaurant around 2:40 a.m. local time on Friday, walking past a woman who is sitting and eating with her companions. The man is seen approaching one of the women and placing her hand on her back, before she grabs his wrist and pushes him away.
The woman can be heard arguing with him, surveillance footage shows. Faced with the woman’s resistance, the man responds by slapping her across the face.
A fight then breaks out between the two, surveillance footage shows. The woman tries to drive him away by trying to hit him with a glass bottle.
Surveillance footage shows the woman’s friends trying to break up the fight and being beaten by the man, as well as a group of other men rushing into the restaurant.
In the images, several women can be seen being beaten, kicked, pulled and dragged by the hair on the ground.
Outrage in China
Explicit video footage showing women being beaten sparked national outrage over the women’s safety. After the video became public, the Tangshan police released a statement Friday followingnoon saying they had identified the suspects and were looking for them.
In a separate statement released on Friday, Tangshan police said two women had been sent to hospital following being attacked and were in stable condition, while two other women suffered minor injuries.
On Saturday, local police sent an update saying they have arrested all nine suspects, including seven men and their two companions. The update said the two female victims who had sustained non-life-threatening injuries were being treated at hospital and were in stable condition.
The incident was widely discussed on Chinese social media over the weekend and sparked public anger in the country. Some people online question the safety of women in China, while others talk regarding systemic violence once morest women in the country.
Research launched
Provincial authorities ordered the criminal investigation of this case to be moved to Langfang, a separate city in Hebei province, according to a Langfang police statement on Saturday night.
Such a move usually occurs when the investigation is sensitive or important, or when the cases involve gang-related crimes and it is necessary to avoid the local safe haven.
