Hundreds of Men Tear Off Female TikTok Star's Clothes in Horrifying Video

A woman was violently assaulted, thrown into the air and had her clothes ripped from her while filming a TikTok video in Pakistan, police say.

The unidentified woman said she was filming at a park in the city of Lahore when a crowd of up to 400 hundred men attacked her on Saturday.

Video of the incident circulating over social media shows a woman being forcibly picked up and dragged through a mob of hundreds gathered at Minar-e-Pakistan to celebrate Independence Day, an event marking the end of British colonial rule.

The woman, who is a TikToker in Pakistan, said she attempted to escape from the crowd along with six others when around 300 to 400 people "attacked us" and "assaulted us violently" during the struggle.

"The crowd was huge and people were scaling the enclosure and coming towards us," she told police, as recorded in a first information report (FIR) registered at the Lorry Adda police station and cited by Pakistan newspaper Dawn.

"People were pushing and pulling me to the extent that they tore my clothes. Several people tried to help me but the crowd was too huge and they kept throwing me in the air," she added.

During the struggle, the woman said her ring and earrings were "forcibly taken", as well as a mobile phone of a man she was with, his identity card and Rs15,000 that he had on him.

Lahore police registered a case on Tuesday against hundreds of unidentified persons for assaulting and stealing from the woman and her six companions.

The FIR was registered under sections 354 A (assault or use of criminal force against woman and stripping her of her clothes), 382 (theft after preparation made for causing death, hurt or restraint in order to commit the theft), 147 (rioting) and 149 (unlawful assembly) of the Pakistan Penal Code, according to Dawn.

Lahore DIG Operations Sajid Kiyani ordered the superintendent of police to take "immediate legal action" against the suspects involved in the incident.

"The suspects should be traced with the help of the footage," Kiyani said in a statement provided by police. Those who "violated women's honor and harassed them will be brought within the ambit of the law," he added.

Footage of the incident has since garnered hundreds of thousands of views over Twitter and TikTok, with many expressing their horror, frustration and anger at the assault. The attack has invigorated public debate in the country surrounding women's rights and protection.

Taha Saleem, Deputy Commissioner of the Karachi Central District, condemned the violence, describing the video as "an abhorring image of our society."

"The #MinarePakistan incident is by no means a one off event. I remember my staff recommending me to close big parks including Hill Park & Jheel Park etc on Eid for families. Because previously similar incidents have been reported. I wonder how low can we stoop," Saleem tweeted Wednesday.

Chairman of the Pakistan People's Party and the Pakistan Human Rights committee, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, said the assault "should shame every Pakistani" in a tweet the same day.

"It speaks to a rot in our society," he added. "Those responsible must be brought to justice. The women of Pakistan feel insecure and it is all our responsibility to ensure safety and equal rights to all."

The video sharing platform TikTok has also been banned several times in Pakistan for allegedly permitting "inappropriate content" on its platform.