Caught on video: Man slaps woman 7 times in 5 minutes on HK street

A video clip of a man scolding and repeatedly hitting and slapping a woman in public on a Hong Kong street has generated heated debate on Chinese social media.

In the five-minute clip, the man slaps the woman at least seven times.

At the start of the video, the man can be seen pointing and yelling at the woman. Obviously infuriated, he then raises his hand and slaps her across the face.

The woman is visibly frightened and offers no resistance as the man continues his tirade and hits her several more times.

She tries to back away but the man continues to move towards her menacingly. She can also be heard shouting out in pain every time she is hit.

People were seen passing by the couple throughout the clip, and many even stopped when they saw or heard the commotion, but no one stepped forward to stop the man from hitting the woman.

Many netizens have taken to social media to criticise the man's violent behaviour, calling him a thug and a coward, Hong Kong news portal On.cc reported.

However, some netizens also questioned why the passers-by who witnessed the scene failed to step forward or report the matter to the authorities, according to Hong Kong's Headline Daily.

A similar video of another incident in Hong Kong from 2013, in which a girl asked her boyfriend to kneel down before slapping him 14 times, also went viral at the time.

seanyap@sph.com.sg