Nightclub boycotts over claims of ‘drink-spiking’
ABOYCOTT of nightclubs in Wales is planned to protest over drink spikings and call for increased safety measures in venues.
The boycott comes after a reported rise in drink spikings across towns and cities in Wales, with one young woman being taken to hospital after her drinks were allegedly spiked back in August.
The Girls Night In Cardiff group is calling for “the entire student population of Cardiff to ‘have a girly night in’ in support of protesting against spiking in clubs”.
“As most students know, spiking has become an epidemic in Cardiff nightclubs,” the group wrote in an Instagram post. “After every night out there’s a new story of a spiking incident or an attempt at one.”
A boycott of nightclubs in Cardiff has been planned for October 29. The group wrote that similar events are taking place in Edinburgh and Nottingham and they think Cardiff should do the same. Similar boycotts have been planned for towns and cities all across the UK.
It comes as police investigate reports across the UK that young women have been targeted and spiked by injection in nightclubs.
Only yesterday, a student told how she believes she was injected with a drug during a night out with friends.
Nottingham University student Zara Owen, 19, from Surrey, said she went for a night out with friends last Monday but then blacked out soon after arriving at a venue.
Speaking to BBC Breakfast yesterday, she said: “I went out with my friends to a nightclub in the city – nothing more than what we would usually do.
“I remember going to the bar, going to the toilet, going to the photobooth, and then after that moment my memory is a blank until I get home and I’m getting my phone charger.
“I know I didn’t drink as much as I usually would on a night out this night, and the fact that I don’t remember anything is terrifying for me because this is something that is a very rare occasion to me.
“I’ve never suffered with memory loss and then the next morning, obviously I did with the memory loss, I woke up with a really painful leg. I found a pinprick in my leg which was the epicentre of all pain. It made me unable to walk and I was limping around.
“As a young person who’s at university, I’m hearing stories of people who have been to nightclubs and they have been injected. I have heard stories of someone having it through their hand or through their back, so this kind of gave me an idea this had happened to me.”
Meanwhile, another boycott has been planned in Swansea for October 27, with a Girls Night In Swansea group being set up on social media.
In an Instagram post, the group wrote that they want to attempt to make nightclubs a safer and more enjoyable experience for women.
A post explaining the reasons behind the nationwide boycott reads: “Spiking has become an epidemic. Never before have we heard of so many students waking up with no memory of what had happened the night before.
“This is not getting ‘black-out drunk,’ this is getting drugged and is something that can be changed.
“This is not a stay at home message. This is asking our students to protest against the clubs and bars. They are not responding to our complaints, so we must make them.”
The post explained that the group is asking clubs and bars to increase security, provide free drink protection devices, and to provide “a clear and obvious medical centre” and a safe way to get home.
Another boycott of nightclubs in Bangor is planned for October 27.
The name of the group was initially chosen in reference to the phrase “girls’ night out” – however, “all genders and people of all identities” are welcome to join the movement, Girls Night In Cardiff wrote in a statement.
A petition to make it a legal requirement for nightclubs to search guests on entry has also been set up and has over 131,000 signatures at the time of writing. The petition calls for the UK Government to make it law that nightclubs must search guests on arrival “to prevent harmful weapons and other items entering the establishment.”