Wave of syringe attacks mar France’s street music festival

France's President Emmanuel Macron on stage during the annual 'fete de la musique' music festival in the courtyard of the presidential Elysee Palace in Paris, Tuesday, June 21, 2022. (AP Photo/Thomas Padilla, Pool)

PARIS, France — French police have detained twelve suspects after 145 people reported being pricked with syringes during the country’s annual street music festival, officials said Sunday.

Millions of people took to the streets across France on Saturday evening for the Fete de la Musique, with authorities reporting “unprecedented crowds” in Paris.

Before the party, posts on social media had called for women to be targeted during the festivities.

The interior ministry said 145 victims across the country had reported being stabbed with needles. 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 inconscious 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 southwestern city of Angouleme suspected of having targeted around 50 victims, said a police source.

Apart from those suspects, more than 370 people were detained during the festival on various charges, including nearly 90 people in Paris.

Fourteen participants in the festivities were seriously injured, including a 17-year-old hospitalised after being found sitting on the street with stab wounds to the lower abdomen.

Thirteen members of law enforcement were also injured.

The prefect of the Paris police, Laurent Nunez, said that “no major incident has been reported”.