The Sûreté du Québec (SQ) is investigating possible sexual assaults committed on the sidelines of the Festi-Plage, in Gaspésie, last week. Several people were allegedly drugged during the festival.
“We are aware of allegations related to possible poisoning. We are currently validating information, ”said Béatrice Dorsainville, spokesperson for the SQ, on Thursday. The police also did not specify how many cases had been reported to them.
The facts would have occurred last week, during the Festi-Plage of Cap-d’Espoir, a sector of Percé. This 16th edition of the festival welcomed a record number of more than 20,000 spectators, while the city, admittedly accustomed to tourists, has just over 3,000 inhabitants.
In Percé, the news spread like wildfire in the last few days and gave rise to all sorts of rumors in the village. Several local residents to whom The duty spoke said they feared the festival had been weighed down by the “prick challenge”.
A scourge in Europe, this sordid challenge involves drugging women at events using a syringe, which often contains GHB, commonly known as the “date-rape drug”. The Gaspésie Crime Victims Assistance Center (CAVAC) has not provided any information to this effect. The organization confirms on the other hand to have taken care of “a few” victims, without giving figures.
The CAVAC also indicates that the sexual assaults were allegedly committed outside the festival site. During the Festi-Plage, the inhabitants of Percé usually rent their land to festival-goers, who come to set up their tents there.
The organization of the event had still not issued comments at the time of this writing.