The shocking story of a gruesome attack on two female tourists has left the Chinese internet horrified and outraged, particularly after learning about the local police’s response or lack thereof.
On Tuesday, one of the young women posted shocking pictures of her injuries onto Weibo. They show her with a swollen face covered in blood, a pair of black eyes and a long gash running down the length of her nose requiring six stitches
In her post, the victim, surnamed Dong, describes how she and her friend were attacked by a dozen drunk men inside a barbeque shop in the tourist town of Lijiang in Yunnan province last November.
She says was hit in the back of the head with a beer bottle, beat up and then dragged out into the street where one man used the broken shards of a bottle to cut open her face, telling her that he wanted to scar her for life.
Dong says that one of the men recorded the attack on his phone which occurred out in public. Still, no one stepped in to stop it. Afterward, the men took away the victims’ phones and told them to tell police that they had had an “accident.” The thugs added that they had good connections with local authorities.
She writes that so far police have been reluctant to investigate the case, so she decided to tell the world her story.
On Wednesday, the day after Dong’s post went viral, the Lijiang Public Security Bureau responded that a special task force had been created for the case and six suspects had already been arrested. Today, it was announced that two of the suspects are unemployed, two work at a bar, one is a staff member at a sales company, and another is a ball boy at a golf course.
While Lijiang police confirmed that the attack had taken place, they also described the second victim’s injuries as “mild,” according to a health assessment last week.
Which isn’t exactly how Chinese netizens would describe Dong’s injuries at least. Weibo users have since pelted the police department with criticism, accusing them of incompetence, corruption and trying to cover up the crime.
Of course, in China, if you can’t get justice from the police, you can always try social media.
[Images via 琳哒是我]
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