A school bullying incident in southern China has sparked a series of protests and calls for more justice for the 14-year-old victim.
A video of the girl being slapped, kicked and forced to kneel by three other minors went viral in the Jiangyou city in Sichuan province last week.
The police said the three suspects are all female, aged 13, 14 and 15 – and two of them had been sent to “specialised schools for corrective education”.
As news of the incident spread on social media, many felt the punishment was too light – especially after claims that the girl had been bullied for some time and that her mother, who is reportedly deaf, had pleaded with the authorities for more justice for her daughter.
In a series of videos, shot by the perpetrators, the victim can be heard saying she would call the police after being repeatedly hit with a stick. Then one of the girls attacking her said they were not afraid. Another said she had been to the police station more than 10 times, and claimed she was set free in less than 20 minutes.
These comments have resonated with those who fear not enough is being done to punish bullying in China.
The incident has prompted a wave of public anger online and protests erupted outside the local government offices in Jiangyou.
More than 1,000 people gathered in the street on 4 August and stayed until past midnight, according to local shop owners.
One of them told the BBC that “things got bloody” after police used batons and electric prods to control the crowd.
Several videos posted online appear to verify his account. Officers can be seen dragging protesters along the street and hitting them with batons. A witness also said he saw a few water bottles being thrown at the police.
“People just wanted justice,” he said. “People were upset about the [lack of] punishment.”
The witnesses who spoke to the BBC were unwilling to give their names as the police have reportedly urged local people not to talk about the incident.
In a call to the local Public Security Bureau, the BBC was told that there were “limitations on foreign press asking questions”.
Protests in China are not uncommon, but they are quickly shut down and censored on state-run media and the internet.
The demonstrations in Jiangyou have forced the police to issue a second statement to clarify rumours that the assailants were the daughters of a lawyer and a police inspector. These claims are false, police said.
“Two of the parents are unemployed, two are working outside the province, one is a local salesperson, and one is a local delivery driver,” the statement said.
The police have punished two people for spreading fake information online saying their posts have “seriously disrupted public order and caused bad social impact”.
A lawyer based in Shanghai said in an online post that this incident has highlighted an ongoing legal dilemma for Chinese officials.
“The penalty for causing minor injuries is too mild, while the physical and mental trauma suffered by victims is overlooked by the law, which leads to a significant imbalance in the protection of their rights,” he wrote on the Chinese social media platform Weibo.
His credentials have been verified by the BBC, but he is unwilling to be named.
Bullying has become a highly sensitive topic in China in recent years, and student deaths over alleged bullying have triggered protests in the past.
In January this year, the death of a teenage boy sparked violent protests in a city in north-west China. Objects were hurled at police during demonstrations in Pucheng in Shaanxi province. Authorities said the teenager fell to his death in an accident at his school dormitory, but there were allegations on social media of a cover-up.
Last year a Chinese court handed down lengthy sentences to two teenagers who murdered a classmate in Hebei province with a shovel. The 13-year-olds buried the victim in an abandoned vegetable greenhouse.
The victim was bullied by his classmates, his family and lawyer had alleged, while the court said that he had “experienced conflict” with the convicted teens.
