Around 100 people gathered in Aberystwyth last week to protest against a recent rise in incidents of spiking across the UK.

The protest, organised by Aberystwyth University Young Liberals Society, saw a crowd gather in front of Royal Pier at 9pm, on 26 October, before marching along the prom and through the town.

At the same time, the Aber Night In boycott was taking place, which saw people across Aberystwyth staying home from pubs, clubs and bars in the town, as part of the nationwide Girls Night In campaign.

During the protest, a joint statement by Ceredigion MS Elin Jones and MP Ben Lake was read out, in English and Welsh, by Aaron Clwyd Jones and Luned-Mair Barratt.

Cllr Elizabeth Evans, who represents Aberaeron, also spoke at the protest, highlighting the work that can be done on a local level to tackle spiking and suggesting meeting is set up between a cross-party group and the Licensing Authority.

After the protest, Cllr Evans commented: “Last night saw an amazing turnout for an extremely serious issue. The campaign is growing in momentum thanks to all these young people and will continue to resonate across the university, the town, and in every part of our community, now and in the years ahead.”

During the protest, organiser Joe Thomas said the protest wouldn’t have happened without “the amazing network of young female activists across the UK and Wales”, including Poppy Mae Faiers who started the Aber Night In campaign.

Poppy addressed the crowd outside the Royal Pier: “The response we’ve got on social media has been incredible, and thank you all for joining the boycott tonight and for being here out in the cold on the seafront and not in a pub with a pint.

“There was a lot of backlash, it was quite controversial to suggest this boycott. But considering that so many cities and so many universities have decided to take this stand in solidarity against this epidemic of spiking, it would just be so wrong if Aberystwyth didn’t join in.

“Spiking is as much of a problem here as it is in any big city, I know far too many stories and you hear more everyday. Every time you log onto social media, you hear about something else awful that’s happened and it’s exhausting.

“And we shouldn’t be responsible for stopping it. We shouldn’t have to worry about getting a bottle stopper, we shouldn’t have to worry about having testing strips on us, it is the responsibility of establishments and the police to stop these men form getting access to these drugs, from bringing them inside places, and from being able to spike these girls. And once it has happened, they aren’t able to provide justice to the people it has happened to.

“There’s not the CCTV, the establishments are never very cooperative. I mean we just heard earlier about the lack of convictions.”

After the protest, Joe and Poppy said the turnout to the protest “was even better than expected” and released a joint statement thanking all those who attended.

“Since the start of the Aber Night In campaign, just less than a week ago, we’ve seen enhanced security measures at many Aberystwyth venues, including Angel and Pier, the launch of an anonymous spiking report service as well as extra night patrols by Aberystwyth Students’ Union, student societies providing more support for those that have been spiked or sexually assaulted, and three Asks being taken up by Jane Dodds and the Welsh Liberal Democrats,” they said.

“We will continue to fight for better measures to protect people and have also launched a petition.”

Read our full report on the problem of spiking and what local venues are doing to combat it in this week’s paper, on sale now