The photo shows a girl who was attacked on Saturday inside a four-star hotel in the southwestern Chinese city of Chengdu. [Photo: weibo.com]

Two girls were reportedly attacked on Saturday inside a four-star hotel in the southwestern Chinese city of Chengdu. The report came shortly after a similar case in Beijing earlier this month, which sparked a nationwide outcry for better protection of women.

The two, who have claimed to be tourists from China's northeastern Heilongjiang Province, were beaten inside the Rainbird International Hotel and suffered light injuries.

According to the victims, who were guests at the hotel, they returned to the hotel around 1 o'clock on Saturday morning and found a man, surnamed Peng, following them into the elevator and behaving suspiciously. Feeling uneasy, the two returned to the hotel lobby and asked the man why he followed them. Peng then started physically assaulting them. One of the girls texted her friends for help, who then called the police.

According to Peng's wife, Peng is a Chengdu local who got drunk that night due to his sluggish business and started to beat the girls to vent his anger. Peng and his wife have apologized to the victims and gave the girls 12,000 yuan, or around 1,800 US dollars, as compensation.

The incident soon triggered wide attention, as it reminded people of a similar case in a Beijing hotel days ago.

The female victim, known only by her Sina Weibo user name "wanwan_2016", said that she was attacked by a stranger in a Yitel Hotel in downtown Beijing. What made the case more appalling was that several witnesses, including a hotel employee, failed to stop the violence.

Similarly, according to the victims in Chengdu, no security staff had shown up to help them, despite the fact that the attack took place inside the hotel lobby.

The hotel in Chengdu has so far refused to make any comments or provide security camera footage to the media.

The photo shows a girl who was attacked on Saturday inside a four-star hotel in the southwestern Chinese city of Chengdu. [Photo: weibo.com]