Five family members in Nanjing have recently been involved in a physical altercation over the visitation rights of a father as to his young son. Two additional men assisted in the shocking encounter that has quickly become an internet sensation.
It was at 09:44 on 13 November that four men set upon the ex wife of one of their number, with the intention to take away her 4-year-old son.
The attack took place in Nanjing’s Jiangbei New Area, as a Ms. Li was waiting for the lift outside her apartment with her son and adult daughter. Suddenly, four men emerged from a corridor where they had been lying in wait.
Li’s first thought was for her son, and she immediately sheltered him in a corner beside the door to their apartment.
The principal assailant, the boy’s father, attacked his ex wife first. Li’s elder daughter, in her early 20s, then tried to pull her father off her mother, but was physically removed by the boy’s 61-year-old grandfather.
As the five family members struggled, the remaining two men entered the fray to assist. One dealt with the sister while the other helped hold down Li, while her ex continued to pull her son from her grasp.
The 30-second encounter, which can be seen in a video report by The Paper, came to an end when Li felt she had no choice but to let go of her son, out of fear for him getting seriously hurt by his father.
In the aftermath, it emerged that Li’s fears were founded.
The Nanjing’s Gulou District People’s Court granted Li her divorce on 2 November, 2021, and awarded weekly visitation rights to the father of her son, born on 15 September, 2018.
But Li soon began to notice that her son would return from his outings with his father with injuries, particularly bruises around his knees. The boy also started saying that he no longer wanted to visit his father’s home.
Li therefore took it upon herself to discontinue the visitation rights. That decision was to lead to the physical encounter earlier this month.
After the attack, Li reported the incident to Nanjing’s Public Security Bureau at the Taishan Xincun Police Station and has appealed to the Executive Bureau of Gulou District People’s Court for help.
Meanwhile, an officer surnamed Zhou with the Jiangbei New Area police has confirmed that the two men who assisted the boy’s father and grandfather were immediately placed in criminal detention.
