>>509419918Arrests in France after scores report being attacked with syringes at street music festival
Interior ministry says 145 people across the country reported being stabbed with needles at Fête de la Musique events
French police have detained 12 suspects after 145 people reported being pricked with syringes during the country’s annual street music festival this weekend.
Millions of people took to the streets across France on Saturday evening for the Fête de la Musique, with authorities reporting “unprecedented crowds” in Paris.
The feminist influencer Abrège Soeur warned online before the festival that calls had been made on social media for women to be targeted with syringes. It was not certain where such posts would have been made or by whom.
The interior ministry said 145 victims across the country had reported being stabbed with needles during outdoor music events across the country. Paris police reported 13 cases in the capital.
Officials did not say if these were cases of so-called needle spiking with date-rape drugs such as Rohypnol or GHB, used by attackers to render victims confused or unconscious and vulnerable to sexual assault.
“Some victims were taken to hospital for toxicological tests,” the ministry said.
In Paris, investigations were opened after three people, including a 15-year-old girl and an 18-year-old male, reported being stabbed in separate incidents across Paris, prosecutors said. All three reported feeling unwell.
Across France, 12 suspects have been arrested, the interior ministry said. Among them were four people in the south-western city of Angoulême suspected of having targeted about 50 victims, a police source said.
Two men were also arrested in the centre of the north-eastern city of Metz on suspicion of syringe attacks. The regional public broadcaster France 3 reported that one man had been caught with a syringe and a woman who complained of being stabbed with one had recognised the other.
