Stitch in Spain's party night: women in fear of needle attacks

Created: 08/05/2022, 11:55 am

Party districts, clubs and festivals provide the environment for needle attacks.

© Jens Kalaene/dpa

The needle attacks terrify women in Spain.

Almost 50 people have been victims of needle spiking in clubs and at festivals.

Valencia - It's high season, with fiestas, parties and festivals, young people in Spain turn the nights into days.

However, for young women, the celebratory mood turns to fear and worry.

In Spain, too, the police are investigating the first cases of needle attacks in which women are pricked in clubs, at fiestas and festivals.

Needle spiking probably spilled over to Pamplona from England during the San Fermines fiestas, and fear is also rife in the party scene in France and Germany.

Needle Spiking in Spain: women in fruit before attacks reminiscent of knockout drops 

The Spanish police have about 50 cases to investigate, for example in Pamplona, ​​in the Valencia region, on the Balearic Islands of Mallorca and Ibiza.

However, the number of unreported cases could be higher, since not all women report a needle attack - called Pinchazo in this country.

Drugs, robbery and sexual assault have so far not been associated with needle spiking, although the parallels to knockout drips and gang rapes in Spain are causing fear among young women.

Needle spiking not only puzzles the police about the perpetrators, but also about their motives.

Attacked women in Spain usually complained of nausea, dizziness and headaches, many only noticed the puncture later after the formation of a hematoma, reports costanachrichten.com.

Drugs have not yet been found in them.

The quantities could not have been large either.

Police officers assume that 22 seconds would be needed to be able to inject knockout drops in the necessary dose via needle spiking.

The victims would have noticed.

Needle attacks in the party scene: Some women still stay among friends.

"This raises social concerns, especially given the possibility of sexual violence against women, although this has not been confirmed at the moment," said Catalan Minister for Equality Tània Verge.

The young Mallorcan Lourdes Sosa admitted to the newspaper "Última Hora" that the fear was spreading.

"People almost prefer to stay at home with friends."

This type of sexual abuse and the associated cases of rape ultimately led to the not uncontroversial law on sexual freedom, according to which explicit consent - as the catchphrase "only a yes means yes" - must precede consensual sexual intercourse.

One can already see a red line from the Manada atrocities at the Sanfermines in 2016, to their copycat gang rapes, to the current needle attacks.

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The dreaded knockout drops are mixed into drinks.

They are linked to several sexual assaults in Spain, including gang rape.

Affected women under the influence of these drugs lose their will, control over their mind and body, and often have only vague memories of what happened to them.

Many chemicals and drugs fall under the term knockout drops.

These include ketamine, a veterinary anesthetic, and GHB (gamma-hydroxybutyric acid), known as liquid ecstasy.

In clubs, the drugs are also taken voluntarily as party drugs in lower doses.

Initiatives advise not to leave glasses unattended in pubs and clubs and not to accept drinks from strangers.