China's Tangshan stripped of 'civilized' status, assault on women sparks public outrage

After recent violence by a group of men beat four women outside a restaurant, the Chinese city Tangshan has been stripped of its honorary "civilized" status. The assault against the women has sparked public outrage with many demanding for justice.

Footage from the barbecue restaurant's cameras on June 10 showed a man slapping and dragging a woman to the street by her hair after she appeared to reject his advances. Other men then joined in, assaulting her female companions and leaving two women sprawled on the side of the street.

Two of the women remain hospitalized in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU), officials said this week, while authorities said they had arrested nine people in relation to the attack.

The violent attack which is widely condemned was caught on CCTV. This has also renewed a national discussion about violence against women in China.

After this assault on women in the northern Hebei province of Chinese city Tangshan, a hashtag on the social media site Weibo started doing rounds. The hashtag signalled at the incident. Soon after it grabbed the attention of netizens, reported NBC News.

The video has been viewed hundreds of millions of times. Hundreds of thousands of people commented after videos of the attack were posted online. It is worthy to note that many of these online voices were calling for justice for the women and seeking action against the perpetrators.

The Civilization Office of the Central Communist Party Committee on Wednesday removed the city from the nation's honorary list of "civilized cities."

According to the office's official website, the "National civilized cities" are selected on eight criteria including good social order and a healthy and upward-moving social atmosphere.

Tangshan has been awarded the status four times since 2011, most recently in 2020. The committee's decision is the latest in a series of official responses to the attack and to the waves of anger it has provoked online.

Following the attack, the Hebei provincial security authority on Tuesday launched a disciplinary review and investigation into the Tangshan police bureau's response to the incident.

(ANI)

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