China charges 28 people over restaurant attack on group of women
Chinese authorities said they had charged 28 people and were investigating 15 officials including police for corruption more than two months after a shocking incident in which a group of men assaulted four women at a barbecue restaurant in Tangshan, northeast China.
The men carried out the assault after the women rejected their apparent sexual advances on 10 June. CCTV footage circulated online showed a man placing his hand on a woman’s back as she shared a meal with two companions. After the woman pushed him away, the man struck her before others dragged her outside and dealt a barrage of blows as she lay on the ground. Another woman was knocked to the floor.
The violent attack reignited a fierce debate about violence against women in China. Millions on China’s social media websites condemned the attack.
On Monday, prosecutors in Hebei province said they would begin legal proceedings against the suspects – including seven directly involved in the assault – after they obtained “reliable and sufficient” evidence.
The statement, shared on the Weibo social media site, did not specify a criminal charge.
Police identified the prime suspect in the attack as “Chen”, saying he had “recklessly used violence to commit evil”, according to the state broadcaster China Central Television.
The attackers were suspected of being part of a gang, and local media reported in June that the police response had been slow, prompting concerns that corruption was involved.
In the meantime, authorities from the Hebei provincial commission for discipline inspection said they were investigating 15 officials over corruption that involved “evil organisations”, including those associated with the attackers.
In June, five police officials were being investigated over their handling of the attack. They included a district head of a local police force. His deputy was removed from his post. The authorities also launched a crackdown against organised crime.
Discussion of feminism has grown in China despite pressure from its patriarchal society, widespread censorship and patchy legal support for victims.
But viral online essays condemning the attack as symbolic of the country’s larger problem of gender-based violence were censored.
Two women were taken to hospital after the incident and two others sustained minor injuries, authorities said.
Women’s rights campaigners say domestic abuse remains pervasive and underreported in China, while prominent feminists also face regular police harassment and detention.
Local journalists who travelled to Tangshan to seek information about the victims were harassed, intimidated and even detained, according to the US-based Committee to Protect Journalists.
In early August, a man in the city allegedly killed his girlfriend by repeatedly running her over with his car in broad daylight. Surveillance footage of the incident sparked widespread outrage online before being censored.