5 held after woman is beaten to death

Five people have been detained by police in Shandong Province on suspicion of beating a woman to death in a McDonald's outlet in the city of Zhaoyuan.

The attack happened about 9pm on May 12 as the woman, surnamed Wu, was eating in the fast-food restaurant, Zhaoyuan police said.

At a table nearby was a group of six people who began speaking with Wu and asked her for her phone number, a witness told Shandong-based Qilu Television.

When she refused, the group became angry and attacked her. Police were called and arrived on the scene as the assault was ongoing.

Wu was rushed to hospital but later succumbed to her injuries, police said.

In a three-minute video uploaded to the Internet by a witness, a man is seen repeatedly hitting Wu with an iron-handled mop. He is encouraged by a woman shouting "Beat her to death."

Wu can be heard screaming for about a minute in the video.

Several other people were in the outlet at the time of the assault, though no one went to her aid.

The six suspects are a man surnamed Zhang from Hebei Province, his two daughters and son, and two women, one from Hebei, also surnamed Zhang, and one from Sichuan Province, surnamed Lu.

Zhang's son was not detained as he is too young to be held criminally liable.

Police said all five suspects had admitted taking part in the fatal assault.