A Chinese hit his wife in the street in front of pedestrians ... to death
A video clip and pictures showing a man in China hitting his wife in the street in front of passers-by without anyone moving to help her until she died, sparked outrage and renewed questions about domestic violence.
Footage of the incident first appeared on social media and local media on Sunday, and has been circulated millions of times.
The media reported that the incident occurred after the couple collided with a vehicle while they were riding an electric bike in Zhao Ju, and the police said in a statement that the woman was killed Saturday morning and that the public security services are keeping her suspected husband "and are conducting a full investigation into the case."
The footage shows some cyclists and motorcyclists and pedestrians, including children, as they watched the incident that took place on the side of the road.
Leaflets dealing with the incident attracted tens of thousands of comments, most of them criticizing passers-by's failure to help women and lax in dealing with domestic violence incidents in some sectors of Chinese society.
China did not introduce a specific law criminalizing domestic violence until 2015, and activists say that violent incidents that occur between family members are usually ignored.
At the time the law was passed, the government-run All-China Women's Federation estimated that about one in four Chinese women experience violence during their marriage.
The authorities record between 40,000 and 50,000 complaints per year.
Social media users indicated that there is a widespread perception in China that those applying for help could be responsible for paying hospital costs or be trapped in a fraud, which makes many reluctance to intervene.
However, in 2017, China enacted legislation known as the "Good Samaritan", which aims to address this issue by removing civil liability for those who intervene to help victims of violence or accidents.
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