Redditer: Saw a child get slapped by her mother on the street. Should I have done something?

[Tragedeigh]

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Saw a child get slapped by her mother on the street. Should I have done something?​

General

The other day, I was walking in a very busy area and saw something very disturbing. I was walking about 10 feet behind behind this girl (maybe around 8-10 years old), who was holding hands with a grandmother. On the other side of the grandmother, there was also a boy who I assume is her brother (maybe around 10-12 years old). All of a sudden, this extremely angry woman (who I assume is their mother) stormed towards them while screaming at the top of her lungs, and when she got close to the girl, she started hitting the girl very hard while continuously yelling at the girl and the grandmother. She slapped the girl's face very hard twice and also hit her on the back while berating her in front of everyone. I also saw the mom drag her daughter by some body part, but for the life of me, l cannot remember if it was her hair or cheek or ear or something else... I think I was so traumatized by what I saw that I blocked this detail out of my memory... The mom was yelling in Mandarin, and my Mandarin is not that good, so l have no idea why this was happening.

There were a lot of people walking by, and many people were surprised by the commotion, but scurried away without confronting them. The mom, girl, grandmother, and boy walked off quickly as the mom was rushing them away while continuing to yell at them very loudly. As they walked away, I paused and stood there in shock. I'm still thinking about it a few days later, and I'm now wondering if I should have said or done something to intervene at the moment. Again, there was a language barrier here, so l have no idea what she was so upset about, but nothing, absolutely nothing can justify slapping a child across the face so hard and hitting a child in anger like that. Should I have reported it to the police on the spot? Is it too late to make an online report to the National Anti-Violence Helpline? Am I overreacting cuz I'm not from Singapore?