Social media users in Morocco expressed fury after a video emerged of a woman with large bruises on her body who described being beaten by her husband.



The woman's eyes appeared heavily swollen and she had deep purple bruises on her thigh and torso, as seen in a video posted on Facebook on July 7. It has since been viewed nearly 850,000 times.



The woman said her husband attacked her after she questioned his late return home. "I asked him, 'Why are you coming home late?' He answered, 'Why does it matter to you?' And he beat me," she explained in the video, filmed by a passer-by.



The woman said she went to the police but was rebuffed. "They didn't even let me in," she said. "My husband also took the children from me."







Online users, outraged at the violence the woman had been subjected to, demanded a response from authorities.



The two Facebook users who posted the video did not respond to a request for comment.

Local police opened an investigation and said the woman had in fact met with officers and filed a complaint, the Moroccan newspaper Tel Quel reported.

More than half of women in Morocco say they have been victims of violence, according to a May report from the Ministry of Family, Solidarity, Equality and Development.



In September, Morocco criminalized sexual harassment and toughened sentencing for perpetrators of domestic violence. But activists criticized the law for not going far enough to protect women.