\ Any woman who needs assistance or accompaniment can call 971 17 89 89 24 hours a day or write to 639 83 74 76.

\ The Government reminds us that it is an offence to harass someone and warns that men cannot try to coerce women’s freedom to enjoy their leisure time.

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The councillor for the Presidency, Public Function and Equality, Mercedes Garrido, and the councillor for Health and Consumer Affairs, Patricia Gómez, have met to coordinate policies and actions to prevent and combat the beating of women in the field of leisure, in a meeting that was also attended by the director of the Balearic Institute for Women, Maria Durán; the director general of Tourism, Rosana Morillo; the deputy director of Hospital Care and Mental Health, Francisco Albertí, and the deputy director of Humanisation, User Care and Training, Rosa Duro.

Garrido announced that the Government has begun to draw up a road map so that women who feel they have been stabbed can find out what to do. In this way, the executive will coordinate with the Government Delegation in the Balearic Islands, the National Police, the Civil Guard, local police forces, island councils, town councils and leisure companies so that all the parties involved can make their contributions.

“The first message we want to get across is that women should feel safe and accompanied,” said Garrido, who reminded all women that the IBDONA 24-hour assistance and accompaniment service is available to accompany them to the doctor, to file a complaint or to receive psychological care if they need it. They can call 971 17 89 89 or write a Whatsapp message to 639 83 74 76. In addition, if the victims call 112, they will also be attended to and referred to the IBDONA service.

On the other hand, Garrido also wanted to send a very direct message to the aggressors, because “it is on them that we have to focus our attention”. In this way, she said that “we will pursue them, because it is unacceptable for a man, with a macho attitude, to try to coerce women’s freedom to go to a discotheque, a nightclub or wherever he wants, in order to frighten them”. Furthermore, the councillor insisted that the mere fact of pricking someone is a crime, regardless of whether other crimes such as robbery, chemical subjection or sexual aggression are added later.

On the other hand, the councillor for Health and Consumer Affairs, Patricia Gómez, explained that since the month of June all the health system’s departments have been instructed to attend to women who come to them with a series of symptoms, such as loss of consciousness, waking up with torn clothes, with an unknown person, with injuries to the body that cannot be explained or with the feeling that they have received a prick or that they have been given a substance in their drink.

In this sense, Gómez stressed the importance of women who need medical attention for these events “going to hospital emergencies, because that is where samples can be taken and some have to be analysed in a limited time, in less than 6 hours in the case of some drugs”.

Finally, the councillor for Health and Consumer Affairs reported that the “No siguis ase” programme has been reactivated, to promote responsible alcohol consumption or non-consumption of alcohol at municipal festivals, in collaboration with the local councils involved. “The staff of this initiative are trained to inform young people about needle-sticks, so I would like to ask the town councils to join this programme and to call for the non-consumption or responsible consumption of alcohol, because it is an enhancer of the effect of other drugs”.