Screenshot from video clip Photo: Shangyou News

Police in Zhongmu county, Central China's Henan Province is investigating the assault case of a man forcibly dragging a woman into the toilet of a bar, tearing the woman's coat off in the process, Shangyou News reported on Wednesday.

The police has arrested the man for further proceedings.

The police announced on Wednesday that they received an emergency call at 11:59 pm on Saturday. The 27-year-old man, surnamed Li from Kaifeng city, is suspected of criminal crime, according to the announcement.

The incident has trended on China's social media. A surveillance video clip that circulated online showed a young woman running out of a toilet stall after breaking away from a man at about 11:40 pm on Saturday. A man in white followed, yanked off the woman's coat and dragged her back by the ponytail into the stall. At that moment, in the video a woman dressed in black comes out from another stall and is seen trying to help the woman together with other two people.

Whether the two are lovers is a fact still under investigation, and how the man's act of violence will be classified is being decided by the legal department of the local public security bureau, according to the local official in the county.

The incident took place at the Max Club bar in Zhongmu county, Shangyou News said citing the above-mentioned official. After the incident, the police received an emergency call and immediately rushed to the scene, taking into custody the man and the woman involved, the media report said.

The two people said they were in a relationship. Then the police let them leave.

On Tuesday, while the incident was still under investigation, the surveillance video clip attracted public attention online. Later that day, the police summoned the two people again to investigate whether they were, in fact, dating. In addition to investigating the relationship between the two, the public security bureau's legal department is also discussing on how to characterize the man's violent behavior.

The official added that the bar, scene to the act of violence, has been closed for rectification.

According to the Beijing News, local police said that the man and woman, who knew each other, were going to the bar together before the incident. They had been drinking and had a brawl in the toilet. 

The public paid special attention to the incident. Some netizens questioned whether the man should be excused of such behavior, even in the case the two were indeed lovers. Some others asked if the man is suspected of attempted rape.

Not long ago, the assault case against a group of women at a barbecue restaurant in Tangshan, North China's Hebei Province, has made headlines across China, sparking public concern over personal safety. In the wake of the case, Tangshan launched a special police campaign against gang crimes.

Global Times