145 individuals have reported being stabbed with syringes throughout France’s annual Fête de la Musique occasion over the weekend, based on the nation’s inside ministry (by way of RFI).
The annual occasion, held each June 21 to have fun the Summer time Solstice, transforms cities and cities throughout France into open-air music levels. However this 12 months’s festivities have been overshadowed by a disturbing wave of suspected syringe assaults.
Authorities are nonetheless investigating whether or not the incidents have been linked to needle spiking — the follow of injecting victims with substances like GHB or Rohypnol with out consent. In Paris alone, 13 circumstances have been reported, together with a 15-year-old woman and an 18-year-old man who each felt unwell after being pricked. “Some victims have been taken to the hospital for toxicological checks,” the ministry famous.
Three of the Paris circumstances are actually below lively investigation. In complete, 12 individuals have been arrested throughout France in reference to the syringe reviews — 4 of them in Angoulême, the place police say round 50 victims might have been focused.
Regardless of the security considerations, tens of millions took to the streets, with authorities describing “unprecedented crowds” within the capital. Over 370 arrests have been made nationwide for different offenses — practically 90 in Paris alone. Fourteen individuals have been injured through the occasion, together with a 17-year-old discovered with stomach stab wounds. 13 regulation enforcement officers have been additionally reportedly harm.
