145 folks at France music competition report being pricked with syringes after on-line calls to focus on ladies

Paris — French police have detained 12 suspects after 145 folks reported being pricked with syringes in the course of the nation’s annual road music competition, officers stated Sunday.

Hundreds of thousands of individuals took to the streets throughout France on Saturday night for the Fete de la Musique, with authorities reporting “unprecedented crowds” in Paris.

Earlier than the get together, posts on social media had known as for ladies to be focused in the course of the festivities.

The inside ministry stated 145 victims throughout the nation had reported being stabbed with needles. Paris police reported 13 circumstances within the capital.

Officers didn’t say if these had been circumstances of so-called needle spiking with date-rape medicine reminiscent of Rohypnol or GHB, utilized by attackers to render victims confused or unconscious and susceptible to sexual assault. There was a spate of such assaults within the U.Okay. and a lot of different European nations about three years in the past.

“Some victims had been taken to hospital for toxicological checks,” the French inside ministry stated.

In Paris, investigations had been opened after three folks, together with a 15-year-old woman and an 18-year-old male, reported being stabbed in separate incidents throughout Paris, prosecutors stated. All three reported feeling unwell.

Throughout France, 12 suspects have been arrested, the inside ministry stated. Amongst them had been 4 folks within the southwestern metropolis of Angouleme suspected of getting focused round 50 victims, a police supply stated.

Aside from these suspects, greater than 370 folks had been detained in the course of the competition on numerous costs, together with almost 90 folks in Paris.

Fourteen members within the festivities had been critically injured, together with a 17-year-old who was hospitalized after being discovered sitting on the road with stab wounds to the decrease stomach.

13 members of legislation enforcement had been additionally injured.

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