One victim of spiking said she hopes a boycott of the UK’s nightclubs will help other victims “feel that they’ve been listened to”.
Dozens of local Instagram pages have been created to spread the news of the Girls Night In campaign, where women from various university cities will stay in, “spreading awareness and challenging clubs” to keep people safe.
It comes after hundreds of cases, including drink spiking and injections, were reported in recent months.
Petra Mirosevic-Sorgo, who runs the @girlsnightinloughborough Instagram account with two other students at Loughborough University, told the PA news agency that her own experiences of spiking made her want to “make sure that (others) feel safe”.
“I woke up and I was so distraught… I just remember running out to the hospital lobby crying,” the 21-year-old recalled.
Ms Mirosevic-Sorgo said her university’s Student Union had only sold 60 tickets for its own Wednesday night event, which she says shows people are behind the boycott.
“Normally 3,000+ people go out on a Wednesday, so we’re quite happy that people are actually taking this seriously,” the English and sports science student said.
“On one side, we want to stand in solidarity with the past, present, and future (victims) of spiking, and on the other hand, it’s to make a stand against nightlife hosts and events – to say, ‘it’s really not good enough.’
“And just to make those who have been spiked feel that they’ve been listened to.”
A man appeared in court charged with rape on Wednesday after a complaint from a woman who said her drink had been spiked.
Dale Garlick, 29, of Stalybridge, Greater Manchester, was remanded in custody to appear at Manchester’s Minshull Street Crown Court on December 1st, a spokeswoman for Tameside Magistrates’ Court said.
Greater Manchester Police said the force received a report in September from a woman who said that at some time during a night out in Stalybridge days earlier her drink had been spiked, and she had been raped.
The National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) said there have been 198 confirmed reports of drink spiking in September and October across various parts of England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland, plus 24 reports of some form of injection.
Meanwhile, detectives are investigating six reports of women being injected while on nights out in Brighton during the past week.
Chief Superintendent Justin Burtenshaw, of Brighton police, said the reports are being taken “incredibly seriously” and called for any possible victims of spiking to let police or bar staff know as soon as possible.
