The assault occurred in the early morning hours of June 10, causing several women to be repeatedly punched and kicked by a group of men. It sent shockwaves across China after surveillance footage of the incident was leaked online.
The day after the attack, Tangshan police released a statement saying the two women were hospitalized with “non-life threatening injuries” and were in “stable condition”. No other information is provided. The victims, as well as their friends and family, have also remained silent.
On Tuesday, 11 days after the assault, and 10 days after the initial statement, the public security department of Hebei province, where Tangshan is located, issued a second, longer statement, saying that two of the The women, ages 31 and 29, were “admitted to a general hospital and their condition has improved.” The other two victims, aged 24 and 29, did not require hospitalization.
According to the forensic report cited by police, the hospitalized women suffered “slight second-degree injuries”, while the other two suffered “minor injuries”.
In an apparent attempt to refute such rumors, Hebei police said in a statement on Tuesday that the suspects fled the scene at 2.47 a.m. – seven minutes after the attack began. ; At 2.5:55 hours, all 4 victims were taken to the hospital by ambulance. Local police officers arrived at the restaurant at 3.09 a.m., about half an hour after receiving calls from the public at the start of the attack, according to the statement.
“So no pictures or videos. Journalists are not allowed to interview (the victims), and only you yourself can reveal the information,” said one user on Weibo, the company’s Twitter-like platform. China, talk about the lack of access provided to journalists.
“A city with no credibility – can we trust injury reports? And how believable is this police claim?” added user.
After the attack, Chinese authorities sought to halt discussions around gender-based violence and shift focus to local gang violence.
State media reports have mainly focused on quick police action in arresting suspects, and the two-week “thunder” campaign announced by the Tangshan government to crack down on criminals. organizing. Photos and videos of police officers – some armed with guns – standing guard for customers at a barbecue restaurant similar to the one where the incident took place, flooded social media.
In a statement on Tuesday, police said four of the suspects had arrived in Tangshan from the eastern province of Jiangsu three days before the attack to conspire with five others “to carry out washing operations.” money and illegal online gambling.” Some of them already have criminal records, for crimes ranging from unlawful detention to willful harm, the statement added.
The police agency has also opened an internal investigation into whether the local police station did not respond in a timely manner and whether they violated any laws and regulations while enforcing the law. A deputy head of the local police station has been suspended, the statement said.
