Latest news with #FeteDeLaMusique
Forbes
30-06-2025
- Sport
- Forbes
How Paris Continues To Conquer Olympics Fans A Year After The Games
The reinstalled cauldron from the Paris 2024 Games Olympic Cauldron rises above the Louvre and River ... More Seine during the Fete De La Musique 2025, on June 21, 2025 in Paris, France. The basin designed by Mathieu Lehanneur will lift off into the sky of the French capital each summer evening from June 21 to September 14 for the next three years. (Photo by) The balloon has gone up and Paris is once again enchanted. The elegant spherical creation that housed the Olympic flame during last summer's Paris Games has returned to its floating perch above the Tuileries garden between the Louvre Museum and the Champs-Elysées, a central spot visible from many of the city's grandest monuments and bateaux-mouches floating down the bref, Paris has mastered post-Olympic fusion tourism. Come for the, well, everything, and stay to check out the spot that has made for some of the most spectacular Olympic imagery this coup de ballon, Paris has pulled off the kind of pivot most Olympic host cities have not been able to manage once the Games have ended. 1992 made a tourist destination of Barcelona and 2012 transformed London's formerly downtrodden East End. In the shadow of these successes, there have also been some dismal failures: see de Janeiro, Rio, where the Olympic Park seemed to fall to pieces only months after the Games ended, and Sarajevo, where disused venues from the 1984 Winter Olympics are greatly in need of refurbishment following the Bosnian the Paris Olympics to the past The helium-powered Olympic cauldron was imagined as a balloon in homage to the Montgolfier brothers Joseph-Michel and Jacques-Étienne. (The French word for hot air balloon is in fact montgolfier.) Jacques-Étienne piloted the first recorded balloon ascent by humans in 1783, setting the stage for Charles and Orville Wright 120 years later. Jacques-Étienne happened to launch his balloon in the middle of the Tuileries, and by no coincidence, the Olympic cauldron has been placed exactly where he took off for his fateful rebranded as the 'Paris cauldron,' the balloon's rise over the city will be a nightly occurrence on summer evenings for the next three years. Though it appears to house a flame, the whole contraption is really trompe l'oeil: its golden glow comes from a combination of LED lights, mist-squirting jets, and high-pressure fans. LED lights, fans, and high-powered jets provide the cauldron's flame-like effect. (Photo by Ezra ...) According to city estimates, Paris's newest iconic attraction drew more than 250,000 admirers last summer alone. Less popular so far are the 'baignades en Seine,' or sites where you can swim in the Seine River, an activity banned 100 years ago due to poor water quality but recently brought back in select areas and trumpeted as of the Games's great legacies. (Daily quality testing determines whether the water is actually sanitary enough for bathers to dip into.)More intriguing for the less adventurous may be the planned flotilla procession down the Seine set for July 27, a year and a day after the magically rainy Opening Ceremony that featured Lady Gaga, Celine Dion, and a bevy of small boats ferrying soaked and thrilled Olympic athletes down the river. New IOC President Kirsty Coventry will be among those in attendance. Olympians from Croatia wave flags aboard a boat in the floating parade on the Seine at the start of ... More the Olympic Opening Ceremony in Paris. (Photo by Clodagh Kilcoyne - Pool/Getty Images) Nor does Paris plan to stop at just the cauldron. Plans for a 'Monument of Champions' with the names of the 2024 Olympians and Paralympians will also be revealed, while the half-submerged statues of ten extraordinary Frenchwomen that made up part of the river decor during the Opening Ceremony will be unveiled in their new residence near the Adidas Arena, which held rhythmic gymnastics and badminton and was one of only two new build venues at the Games. As the Olympics expands its reach, Paris of all places certainly knows how to prolong the magic of the past.
Free Malaysia Today
25-06-2025
- Free Malaysia Today
Wave of syringe attacks mar France's street music festival
Millions took to the streets for Fete de la Musique, with authorities reporting 'unprecedented crowds' in Paris. (AFP pic) 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 today. 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 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.
RNZ News
24-06-2025
- RNZ News
Woman recalls 'numb' feeling after syringe attack at French music festival
By Lisa Klaassen and Saskya Vandoorne , CNN Music enthusiasts gather in the streets during France's annual street music festival, the Fete de la Musique, in Paris, France, on June 21, 2025. Photo: AFP/JEROME GILLES It was around 1:30am, after the crowds had thinned from the streets of Bordeaux, when Manon felt the prick of a hypodermic needle going into her arm. "Someone tapped my left forearm. I started to feel numb in the muscle, like you do when you get a vaccine. After about 30 minutes, the injection mark appeared," she recalled to CNN. Despite not knowing what she had been injected with - or who had done it - she said she "didn't want to panic". Manon, 22, was one of nearly 150 people in France who reported being pricked with syringes during a nation-wide street music festival at the weekend. According to the interior ministry, it remained unclear if date-rape drugs such as Rohypnol or GHB were used in the "needle spiking" attacks, which took place across the country and appeared to have involved multiple perpetrators. Ahead of the festival, which drew crowds of millions of people to the streets, a feminist influencer had warned that calls had been made on social media for women to be targeted with syringes. After spending 4am to 7am on Sunday in the emergency room, Manon shared a video of her experience on TikTok. "It was important for me to raise awareness, because I hadn't seen any testimonies from people who had been injected," Manon said, who declined to give her last name for safety reasons. "We had been told on social media to be careful, but I think people want to know more - how it happens, the symptoms, how it unfolds. It reassured me to talk about it, because at the time, I was completely alone." After she got home from the hospital, Manon filed a police report. "It's important because if we're too lax, if we say, 'oh, others will file complaints', nothing ever changes. I told myself maybe it can have an impact." Since Saturday (US Time), French police have detained 14 men - aged between 19 and 44, including both French citizens and foreign nationals, police spokeswoman Agathe Foucault told Radio France. No arrests have been made in connection with the needle spikings. "The police have not identified any perpetrators behind the injections, but the incidents are confirmed," Minister of Justice Gérald Darmanin told CNN affiliate BFMTV on Tuesday (US Time). The minister said authorities would also pursue those who had called for the attacks online. "We are implementing a criminal policy to prosecute those responsible on social media for these very unhealthy injection games targeting women," Darmanin said. The feminist influencer Abrège Soeur, who before the festival had warned men on social media were planning such attacks, told CNN the perpetrators' "objective isn't only to drug women. It's to instil fear in them." "When people start saying that there will be needle attacks, it spreads in the form of rumour - some people mention it in group chats, others pick it up, it just gets amplified," she said, adding, "We need to help women feel safer." Manon, who faces a wait of three weeks for her toxicology results, said she had "barely slept the last few days" - but she refused to be cowed by her experience. "The Fête de la Musique is meant to be a time of good vibes, music, dancing, having fun. Someone wanted to ruin that moment, to kill that spirit. I told myself I wasn't going to let it defeat me. I don't want to be sad or angry. I don't want to let them win." - CNN
Daily Mail
24-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Festival goer recalls 'fearing for her life' at international music event amid overcrowding concerns after 145 people report being pricked by syringes
A Fete de la Musique attendee said she 'feared for her life' at the annual Parisian music festival over the weekend. The free festival, also known as Music Day, took place last Saturday, and much like London 's Notting Hill Carnival, it encourages its thousands of attendees to play music out loud and dance in the streets. But the annual international music event descended into chaos when 'unprecedented crowds' rammed the French capital. Attackers infiltrated the millions in attendance and 'pricked' 145 attendees with 'syringes', according to reports. Officials did not say whether these were cases of so-called needle spiking with date-rape drugs, such as Rohypnol or GHB, used to render victims confused, unconscious, or vulnerable to sexual assault. On TikTok, others have shared their recollections of the horrors they experienced at the event. Ada Catherine, from Dusseldorf, travelled to Paris for celebration, but by the evening, she was left 'in complete shock' and feared for her life due to immense crowding. She shared footage of a group dancing on a bus stop moments before a rush of people stormed the street, writing, 'She doesn't know it yet, but she'll fear for her life in two seconds.' Elsewhere, Nat from Woolwich, London, shared a clip at the event moments before 'someone got stabbed' while others let off 'fireworks' and 'teargas', he claimed. A different London-based attendee, who goes by @lileddy283 on TikTok, similarly shared a crowded scene at the festival with the caption, 'Fete de la Musique, you were good but never again.' Meanwhile, a tourist called Ozge was left disappointed when she travelled to the city yesterday only to see the streets in ruins. Ozge shared footage of public spaces filled with litter, and added in the caption, 'It was a big mistake to come to Paris after Fete de la Musique.' Before the party in Paris, which authorities reported as having 'unprecedented crowds', posts on social media had called for women to be targeted. The interior ministry confirmed on Sunday that 145 people reported being stabbed with needles after millions had taken to the streets to celebrate. Paris police reported 13 cases in the capital. '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. Among them were four people in the southwestern city of Angouleme suspected of having targeted around 50 victims, a police source said. 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'. Footage circulating on social media also shows attendees in Paris partaking in aggressive behaviour on the streets amid the festivities. In one particularly shocking video, a man dressed in a blue T-shirt kicked a woman's head before pulling another male to the ground. The festival is an annual music celebration that takes place on June 21. On Music Day - as it is known in English - citizens and residents are urged to play music outside in their neighborhoods or in public spaces and parks. The occasion is now celebrated in 120 countries around the world. Organiser Emmanuel Sémo said, 'Over the past three years, this type of incident has unfortunately been on the rise in major cities, particularly in Paris, often amplified by viral TikTok challenges. 'However, at our event, we take these risks very seriously and have implemented heightened vigilance measures to ensure everyone's safety. 'Ahead of the EF FESTIVAL or VERSO FESTIVAL, we issued preventive messages across our social media channels, sent information by email to attendees, and displayed dedicated signage on site. 'Security checks were reinforced at the entrances, and patrols were increased throughout the venue to detect and prevent any suspicious behaviour. 'This year, we had two suspected cases out of over 17,000 attendees. After investigation by emergency services, both were proven to be false alarms. 'While this represents an extremely low incident rate, safety remains an absolute priority for us. We also note that no intervention from law enforcement was required during the event. 'The atmosphere remained positive, the audience was respectful and well-filtered at entry points; We're proud of the secure and welcoming environment we created.'
Times of Oman
24-06-2025
- Times of Oman
France: 145 festivalgoers jabbed with syringes
Paris: French police on Sunday detained 12 suspects after scores of people reported being pricked with syringes at events across the country for an annual street music festival. The Fete de la Musique took place all over France, with authorities reporting "unprecedented crowds" in Paris. The French Interior Ministry said 145 people nationwide had reported being stabbed with needles during outdoor music events. 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. The drugs are used by attackers to render victims confused 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. Four people in the city of Angouleme were reportedly suspected of having targeted around 50 victims. Before the free music festival began, French feminist influencer Abrege Soeur warned on TikTok that there had been calls on social media for women to be targeted with syringes during the festivities. She did not reveal where or how she came across the information. Police said more than 370 people were detained nationwide during the festival on various charges. Similar incidents took place in June 2022, when several suspects around France were detained for allegedly pricking people with a needle in nightclubs or at concerts.
