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Maó protest following sexual assaults

C.M.W.Maó26/04/10 0:00

Around 100 people took part in a demonstration on Sunday morning in the Plaça Constitució, Maó, in protest against the lack of safety in the streets. The demonstration had been called by a group created on the social networking site Facebook as a result of sexual assaults reported in Maó and Es Castell in the past month , as well as a case of rape.

A young woman from Es Castell, aged about 20 years, made a police report concerning a sexual assault which occurred early on Saturday morning as she was about to enter her home. She was approached by a man who then covered her eyes before assaulting her. The victim wrote about the incident on Facebook to warn other young women in the area.

Police sources admitted that, in addition to this case, similar incidents had been reported in the previous few days.

The State Government's Island Director, Javier Tejero, confirmed that both the Policía Nacional and the Guardia Civil are investigating two cases of sexual assault (including the one reported above) and a rape case, all of which have been reported in the last two weeks. He hoped that the cases would be solved as quickly as possible.

Tejero stated that the reported rape had taken place in Es Castell, as had one of the sexual assaults, the other in Maó, the victims being young women aged between 20 and 40 years. According to Tejero the three cases were not necessarily connected.