SINGAPORE : The New Year's Eve party along Orchard Road has
turned into a nightmare for some female partygoers who have turned
to blogs to say they were molested by men who operated in
groups.
The women say the molesters used party foam sprays to temporarily
blind their victims first.
Police say they received 11 reports of molest alleging the acts
took place along Orchard Road that night.
Since then, the police have made eight arrests and confirmed that
some used such tactics.
"The first guy sprayed foam spray into my eyes so I was blinded. I
was coughing because I sucked the foam in as well. I was so shocked
when a second guy grabbed my left breast and a third guy grabbed my
right breast," said one victim, an undergraduate.
"A fourth guy actually reached down to my privates and grabbed it
as well. It was so horrible and I wanted to cry. But I didn't want
them to see I was going to cry so I just screamed and cursed at one
of the guys who I saw was running away," she said.
Another victim says foam sprays were used on her as well.
One type of spray used by the molesters, called a ribbon or string
spray, can target victims several metres away, catching them by
surprise.
Outraged bloggers have started an online petition to ask for
aerosol sprays to be banned.
But not all molesters use sprays to outrage their victims'
modesty.
"One of them just came up and lifted my skirt. Then another person,
I assume it's his friend, uses his handphone to take a video of me
under my skirt. I was terrified. I tried to run away but it was a
big group. There were 7 or 8 of them so I couldn't do anything
about it," said another victim.
She said at least 10 of her girlfriends were similarly violated but
most did not make a police report.
"Even if I were to see the same group of men, I wouldn't recognise
them," said a third victim.
Fellow bloggers who were molested at the Millenium party five years
ago are telling their stories because they hope something can be
done.
All three victims are alleging that their attackers are foreign
nationals.
Police say they have received reports against suspects of various
races.
- CNA /ls
