Wave of syringe attacks mar France's street music festival
24 Jun 2025 10:58am
Music enthusiasts gather for free concerts on the banks of the Seine river during France's annual street music festival, the Fete de la Musique, in Paris on June 21, 2025. (Photo by ROMAIN PERROCHEAU / AFP)
PARIS - 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. People attend France's annual street music festival, the Fete de la Musique, on the Seine river banks as the Paris 2024 Olympic cauldron tethered to a balloon flies above the Tuileries garden at sunset in Paris on June 21, 2025. (Photo by ROMAIN PERROCHEAU / AFP)
Before the party, posts on Snapchat and other social media had called for targeting women during the festivities.
The interior ministry said 145 victims reported being stabbed with needles across the country, with Paris police reporting 13 cases in the capital.
Officials did not specify if they 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.
But at least three people reported feeling unwell, and "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 three different locations in Paris, prosecutors said.
All three suffered from feeling unwell.
Twelve people suspected of being responsible for the stabbings were arrested, the interior ministry said.
They are believed to have targeted around 50 victims, according to 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 who was hospitalised after being found sitting on the street with stab wounds to the lower abdomen.
Thirteen members of law enforcement were also injured. - AFP
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