In Cannes, bars take measures to protect their female customers

After the cinema, the theater, the press or even Sciences-Po, the #MeToo wave has now swept over the nightlife since the creation by Maïté Meeus, a young Belgian woman, of the Instagram account Balance ton bar. Since the testimonies accumulate in Belgium and the movement crossed the border with variations of the account everywhere in France.

In Cannes, several nightclubs, bars or nightclubs are targeted by these testimonies of women who say they have been drugged without their knowledge in GHB or sexually assaulted. One of them The Barrel Pub decided to react by making lids available to its customers to protect their glass and thus prevent GHB or any other drug from being poured into it. And then, the establishment has set up a code: women who feel they are in danger can ask the staff to speak to “Angela”.

“It’s a system that allows victims of assault or harassment, as well as witnesses, to alert by coming to the bar and asking for Angela (…) it works really well in Belgium, it’s a hit, but we didn’t see it in France in fact“, explains Ludovic Moraine, the Belgian DJ of the bar who had the idea of ​​importing the concept into the Cannes bar.

But if the boss decides to implement his new measures, he also chose to file a defamation complaint against the creator of the Instagram account. Like his colleague from Post Pubblico, also targeted by his testimonies. The two owners indicate that they have had no report of alleged violence or sexual assault published on Instagram, nor knowledge of complaints relating to such facts, and that these testimonies are prejudicial to them.

For Imane and Océane, two young women from Cannes, this freedom of speech, and the measures to fight against the rapist’s drugs in particular, are a very good thing: “It will dissuade and make everyone thinks that it is no longer possible to act like that, hoping that they do not invent other means either …”