Photo: screenshot from video circulating online

" I'll happily sit beside him." A female passenger stepped forward and confronted a man on the Beijing subway who had been verbally attacking fellow riders over dust on the clothing, with her righteous actions earning widespread praise from netizens on Monday.

A recent video of a man repeatedly verbally abusing fellow passengers on Beijing Subway Line 5 on Thursday has gone viral online, CCTV News reported on Monday.

According to the report, the footage shows a man repeatedly insulting neighboring passengers over dust on their clothes, making derogatory comments such as "You look like beggars crowding here," and "Who wears such dirty clothes to squeeze into the subway?"

A female passenger intervened and confronted the man, refuting that "If you don't want to sit next to him, just move - I'll happily sit beside one of them."

When the man questioned her involvement, she replied, "I can't stand how you're treating them," criticizing his rudeness and lack of decency, the report said.

"What's so shameful about doing physical work?" the woman asked.

She then sat beside the harassed passengers and gently reassured him, saying that "It's okay."

Following the incident, hashtags praising the woman surged on Monday, with the topic "I'll happily sit beside one of them" claiming the top on Weibo's trending list, garnering 150 million views and 323,000 interactions.

Netizens praised the woman for confronting uncivilized behavior and upholding public decency, with some commenting, "Hateful words in the subway were cold blades, while her righteous help became the warmest antidote."

According to a Saturday announcement by Beijing's public transport police, the 61-year-old offender, surnamed Zhao, was administratively detained for repeatedly insulting passengers and disrupting subway order over seating disputes.


Global Times