All suspects involved in violence against women in Hebei captured

The last suspect, from the group of nine people involved in assaulting women in Tangshan, Hebei province on early Friday, was captured in the afternoon of Saturday in Jiangsu province, according to a notice by Lubei district branch of Tangshan public security bureau.

The captured are suspected with picking quarrels and making trouble as well as violently assaulting others.

Investigation is still underway, the notice said.

Two of the female victims are now under treatment at a local hospital with stable and non-life threatening injuries, the notice said. Injuries of the two other female victims were less serious and not hospitalized.

Those assaulting the females will be severely punished in accordance with the law and the action should be swift, according to a conference presided by the city's Party chief Wu Weidong on Friday night.

The incident happened in the early hours on Friday at a barbecue restaurant when a male customer, surnamed Chen, harassed a female customer and hit her after she resisted. Chen's companions later joined in, beating the female and her female companions.

Videos online showed the beating was cruel, the female customer was wrestled to the ground and then hit by several men at the same time.

The suspects escaped after the incident. Police in Tangshan started the manhunt immediately after receiving a report about the incident.

The police have sent personnel to other provinces to hunt down another four who were also involved in the case but are not residents in Hebei.