What The Hell Happened in France Last Weekend? Massive Street Fights + 145 People Stabbed by Mystery Syringes During City-Wide Music Festival

ABC News – Police in France say that 14 people have been arrested after 145 people reported being ‘pricked’, possibly by syringes, at a nationwide music festival on Saturday.

Most of the victims were women and the attacks happened during France’s annual “Festival of Music” -- Fête de la Musique -- which is a series of musical events in towns and cities across the country.

The 145 people who were either pricked, or believe they were pricked, were typically attacked when they were in a crowd and were pricked either in the arm or the back, police say. Most of the victims didn’t see their attacker.

Victims reported feeling an array of symptoms such as hot flushes, dizziness, loss of consciousness and visible marks or bruises on their skin.

Some victims were treated by medics at the festival, but some were taken to hospital where they gave saliva, urine and blood samples to detect whether they had been injected with substances, according to police.

I can't think of many things I'd rather be stuck by less than a mystery syringe. Bullet, knife, and penis are the only contenders. But I could argue mystery syringe is worse than all of those.  Because a mystery syringe is liable to fuck your life up no matter where on the body it sticks you. Bullet comes pretty close. I'd have to take a mystery syringe over a bullet to the head or chest. But if I'm choosing between mystery syringe and a knife/penis. A knife/penis has to catch you in a very specific area in order for it to give you a problem. The unknown that comes in the weeks, months, years after being stuck by a mystery syringe is unmatched. If that happened to me, any time I felt anything on my body, or got the slightest headache, or my hand fell asleep, I would go into instant panic mode. At least if I'm shot in the leg, or stabbed in the gut, or stuck in the eye with a penis, I pretty much know what I'm dealing with. Being stabbed with a mystery syringe is something I'd be worried about for the rest of my life. 

The scariest thing about these random hypodermic needle assaults is that it isn't like the 145 people targeted at Fête de la Musique was an isolated incident. Ahead of this year's festival, a social media influencer somehow caught wind that this might be happening, and posted a TikTok warning people that this exact thing might happen. The attacks were encouraged on social media. It seems a little strange to me that if we have this paper trail of people encouraging others to stab strangers with needles, that nowhere in there is any indication of the reasoning. No indication of what may have been in the syringes. Regardless, it's a problem that the French government has been well aware of. 

NBC News – This year's summer music festival season in Paris has brought with it renewed fears of syringe attacks after a wave of reports in 2022. At the time, the French government put out alerts advising people to stay vigilant, go to the police, and take a toxicology test if they suspected they had been drugged by a needle prick.

Nobody has come out and said exactly what it was that these 145 people were injected with. Some are speculating that it were a date rape drug such as Rohypnol or GHB. But that seems like a weird thing to coordinated on social media. "Hey everyone, get your needles, we're organizing a festival wide rape this weekend." But who knows. Obviously the people carrying out these attacks aren't right in the head. I'm not sure why I would expect that their reasoning for doing so would make any logical sense. In a fucked up way, at this point, for any of the victims who were able to make it home or to a hospital safely, you almost hope that was the case. As opposed to anything that's going to cause long-term illness or disease. 

One 22-year old woman who was spiked and made it to the hospital is one of the few people who's come out and detailed the symptoms. 

CNN – It was around 1.30 a.m., 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 nationwide street music festival at the weekend. According to the interior ministry, it remains unclear if date-rape drugs such as Rohypnol or GHB were used in the “needle spiking” attacks, which took place across the country and appear to have involved multiple perpetrators.

But she still has to wait a full three weeks for the results of a toxicology report before truly knowing. Even if she ends up perfectly fine, the whole psychological warfare element of the attack would be brutal to go through. Sticking random people with syringes is some wildly sinister shit. Feel free to make your own Covid jokes in the comments. 

Reports say at least 14 people have been arrested in suspicion of being involved in the attacks, but apparently none of them have officially been connected. 

The Guardian – 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.

The local prosecutor’s office in Metz said the alleged victims were believed to be under 18. One of the alleged suspects, a man aged 20, was previously known to police for violence.

CNN – Since Saturday, French police have detained 14 men – aged between 19 and 44 and including both French citizens and foreign nationals, police spokeswoman Agathe Foucault told Radio France Tuesday – but have made no arrests 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 Tuesday.

The minister said authorities would also pursue those who had called for the attacks online.

And beyond the needle attacks, the scenes from this year's Fête de la Musique were complete madness.

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Fête de la Musique (World Music Day) Looked pretty lit until the curb stomping and mystery syringes broke out. Jesus France. That isn't what Fête de la Musique is supposed to be about. It's supposed to be a wholesome day of free music all across Paris (and various other cities in France). It's supposed to be about the music, the baguettes, the cheeses, the fine wine, and all the French things that make France, France. But maybe one gigantic free concert across the entire country is a too much for people to handle anymore. The concept is pretty awesome. If I lived in Paris, I'm sure it's something I would look forward to every year. But if you can't stop people from filing their syringes with mystery drugs for one big coordinated stabbing spree, maybe it's time to pull in the reigns on Fête de la Musique a bit.