A foreign woman faces a 10-day detention and a 500 yuan fine (US$82.50) after she slapped a 6-year-boy at Shanghai’s Pudong International Airport, local police said yesterday.

Police said the woman, whose nationality was not revealed, slapped the boy when he was playing with a trolley in the baggage claim area and scraped against her.

A witness, who gave her surname as Tang, said the slap was so hard that it knocked one of the boy’s teeth out and his face was swollen.

Tang posted two pictures on her microblog, showing the foreigners and the boy’s red and swollen right cheek.

The boy and Tang were in a tourist group returning from Maldives and going on to Wuxi in Jiangsu Province, Tang said.

The boy’s parents and other group members quarreled with the woman, as well as her male friend who turned up later, according to Tang.

“The woman said she would like to pay the boy 50 yuan (US$8) to settle the dispute,” Tang said.

Police were called and they took the foreigners, the boy and his parents to the station at the airport, according to Tang.

A staff member of the French consulate general also went to the police station, suggesting that the foreigners were French.