The shocking incident was filmed by onlookers in Mexico who said it was community justice.
One of the women in the video, being stripped by the mob
A FURIOUS mob have been filmed tearing the clothes off two women suspected of shoplifting, beating them and and cutting their hair.
Footage of the incident was taken by onlookers in the town of Tapachula in the south-western Mexican state of Chiapas and shared on social media.
Her friend lying on the ground after being beaten
Local residents in the footage claimed it was not the first time the two women have been caught stealing in the area.
In the video, mob members are seen removing clothing items from the two suspects while cutting their hair with a large pair of scissors as they lie on the ground.
At one point, the two half-naked women are seen hugging each other as the mob continues to cut their hair.
At the end of the footage, they are seen walking off arm-in-arm as the onlookers continue filming.
According to local media, residents claimed that the women were stealing clothes from the city’s Sebastian Escobar Market.
Mob members said that they dished out their own form of community justice after accusing the local authorities of failing to act whenever they report such incidents.
REVENGE
According to local media, the two half-naked suspects were allowed to leave peacefully after first being humiliated.
It is currently unclear if the local authorities are investigating the case or if anybody has been arrested yet.
The incident is the latest horrific act of mob violence in Mexico to be filmed and posted on social media.
A mob burnt alive a pair of suspected child kidnappers after dragging them out of a police station last year.
A 150 strong mob later gathered outside the building, in the village of San Vicente Boquerón, in the Acatlán de Osorio region.
They then broke down the doors, tied ropes to the men, dragged them out and then set fire to them as well as the vehicle they were found in.
It later emerged the pair were entirely innocent.
In the central Mexican state of Hidalgo a mob burnt alive a detective they accused of planning to abduct children.
In another incident thief was burnt alive in a public square in the town of Villa Tamulte de las Sabanas in the Mexican state of Tabasco.
Raúl Rodríguez Guillén, who has been studying lynchings in Mexico for 20 years, said rising crime and poor policing is behind more people taking the law into their own hands.
"The most serious thing that is happening is that authority is eroding and that in the long term I think it is more serious than the growth of crime," he said.
One of the woman accused of stealing clutching her face with clumps of hair beside her
The two women in their underwear after being stripped
After their humiliation, the women walked away in their underwear
- The Sun