THE British Consulate in Madrid has joined the offensive against sexual attacks in Spanish holiday hotspots.
Will Middleton, the British consular director for Spain, instigated a series of dramatic posters warning British tourists how to stay safe on nights out.
‘Keep an eye on your drink: It only takes a second for your night out to turn into a nightmare’, reads one.
The posters were to be put up, initially, around the tourist hotspot of Ibiza.
However the scheme has been temporarily shelved after Ibiza’s tourist industry shockingly silenced the warning.
Hoteliers insisted that the posters sent out the wrong signals during peak season.
Ibiza’s councillor for tourism, Carmen Ferrer, called for an immediate retraction of the posters because ‘they caused deep alarm’.
The consulate warning came just days after the Olive Press launched it’s own campaign into drink spiking, which has led to numerous sexual assaults and rapes around the country.
Our campaign – Smash the Spiking – followed an in depth investigation into attacks in Spain’s key holiday destinations. Our investigation revealed a complete absence of official statistics in Spain regarding reports of drink-spiking – from police, hospitals and town halls – despite reports that this type of crime is on the increase.
The Olive Press’ aims are simple: more statistics, better policing, clearer advice.
We are currently in communication with the British consul, town halls in Marbella, Estepona, Mijas and Fuengirola, as well as police at a local and national level in order to pursue the campaign and make conditions safer for Spain’s tourists.
‘I think it is a very important issue,” said Anette Skou, of the Mijas Town Hall foreigners’ department. The paper is also working in conjunction with Nicole King at Marbella Town Hall’s official radio station MiMarbella. The UK Foreign Office states that 110 Brits in two years have reported a sexual assault in Spain.
What happened to the putative Olive Press campaign against this obscene activity? Don’t tell us the “hotel lobby” (no pun intended) got to you as well? Understandable really, since they found it easy enough to cow the British Consul.