145 people at France music festival report being pricked with syringes after online calls to target women
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This is a real phenomenon, first widely reported in 2022. Due to some reason, it has resurged.
Arrests in France after scores report being attacked with syringes at street music festival
Millions of people took to the streets across France on Saturday evening for the Fête de la Musique, with authorities reporting “unprecedented crowds” in Paris. The feminist influencer Abrège Soeur warned online before the festival that calls had been made on social media for women to be targeted with syringes. It was not certain where such posts would have been made or by whom.
The interior ministry said 145 victims across the country had reported being stabbed with needles during outdoor music events across the country. 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, used by attackers to render victims confused or unconscious 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. 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.
/.../ There was a wave of reports in 2022 about alleged syringe attacks against women and men in clubs, bars, music events and even theatres. The government put out messages at the time for people going out at night to be vigilant and advising them that they should go immediately to the police and also have a toxicology test if they thought they had been drugged by a syringe prick.
Since another person linked to a story about this on Twitter, of all things, I did some background checking. Does not look like a "panic", but a new genre of crime.
The mayor of the city of Metz, identifiable, writes on social media (Instagram) confirming the occurrence. Confirming that arrests have been made. Other sources (among them old media outlets like the Guardian, see above link) report about it.
Incitement allegedly occurred over social media. It will be investigated where it occurred. Victims have been sent to toxicology. It will be investigated what was injected, if anything. Some victims reported feeling unwell.
Guess: in a crowd, it is relatively easy to anonymously attack someone and hope to leave little evidence. However, this time, it has been claimed that some assailants were detained on the spot. There will be information confirming or denying this pretty soon.
wrote on last edited by [email protected]Confirming that arrests have been made.
Very easy for police to grab random people out of a music festival and throw them in jail.
These social panic stories, in which unnamed sources make nonfalsifiable claims that result in some number of uninvestigated allegations and a series of possibly unrelated arrests stinks of Satanic Panic or Razorblades In the Halloween Candy or Haitian Immigrants are Eating Our Dogs, or any number of other news stories built on gossip.
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Super frustrating article to read.
Fucking tell me about it
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I believe (and hope) that it's just ambiguously written, the first part is discussing incidents throughout the country while the prefect was obviously just talking about Paris.
A lot of oddly worded bits in that article.
Journalists write like garbage these days.
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Fucking tell me about it
Consent to cookies OR ELSE
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Tangentially, I was chatting with the owner of my local pub in Boston recently, and apparently it’s become something of a game (?!?!?!?!?) to try to slip people mickeys around here. As in, just see if you can sneak it into the drink, with no real intent of abuse or rape or whatever - just to see if you can do it.
I fucking hate humans sometimes.
People are giving out free drugs to anyone? Oh no! Kudos to this brave person for speaking out with no regard for what that might do to their own business.
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Journalists write like garbage these days.
wrote on last edited by [email protected]JournalistsAI write like garbage these days. -
Officials did not say if these were cases of so-called needle spiking with date-rape drugs such as Rohypnol or GHB
Some victims were taken to hospital for toxicological tests
investigations were opened after three people... reported feeling unwell.
reported feeling unwell
Knowing what happens every year, they were drunk and paranoid.
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145 women speaking up is evidence of this happening
You're not a scientist aren't you?
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So they just imagined it, is that what you are saying?
And this info is based upon what exactly?
So they just imagined it, is that what you are saying?
Statistically yes, and since the 80s. Without proof, you have the written feelings of drunk people which is not reliable.
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Is that what they say once they get caught, or do they tell that story just in case they get caught in the future?
"It's just a prank bro"
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It’s a GREAT festival. Super fun. Every neighborhood you can just walk around and there are little stages of groups or solo musicians performing. Free and just kind of everywhere. Good vibes. Very pedestrian friendly.
wrote on last edited by [email protected]I do that most evenings. Around 5 pm, I sit on my porch and play my guitar, watching the pond across from my house, and listening to the birds sing.
Sitting in a rocker on a front porch, playing guitar on a warm summer evening, is one of Life's greatest, and most perfect, pleasures.
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A penis.
With two ears
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Maybe trust the victims first and if there is evidence against it doubt?
Edit: As I dit not write that clear enough: If people are accused of course not just lock them up but if hundreds of people report that they are victims of a crime don't just call bs.
So guilty until proven innocent? Just lock up random people based on vague memories when drunk?
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Did you read the link I included in my previous comment?
Reading links that disprove moral panics are actually a falsehood, or something.
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So guilty until proven innocent? Just lock up random people based on vague memories when drunk?
Did they accuse random people? As far as I understood the articles, they filed reports but did not name suspects. When random people get locked up for this, that's an issue for sure. I meant that you should not instantly call bs when hundreds of people report something like this.
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Did they accuse random people? As far as I understood the articles, they filed reports but did not name suspects. When random people get locked up for this, that's an issue for sure. I meant that you should not instantly call bs when hundreds of people report something like this.
Havana syndrome was also reported to be a thing by hundreds of people reporting about it.
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Havana syndrome was also reported to be a thing by hundreds of people reporting about it.
I am not saying it definitly happened. I just argued that it might be true and I don't think it's a good idea to not take such reports serious as many people here stated it is bs before details were public.
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It's much darker than what I thought. For me a mickey is a booger.
Still don't put that in people's drinks
Unless they ask for it
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A single person being stabbed isn't a "major incident" if you're the chief of police or whatever a prefect is.
Prefects are appointed representatives of the state in each department. They are indeed in charge of the police, among other things.
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145 people that think something happened isn't evidence. Every case in the past had lots of people absolutely convinced it happened.
So let's take this to the next step. There is video surveillance because every venue does these days. They pull the video. They watch the video. They follow the movements of every person. They see who bumped into who. If the video shows one or more people ranging too far to too many people and getting close when there is plenty of space and shows them dumping the evidence then we have actual proof that backs up the claims. Toxicology tests were performed. We find that there is something in the blood that shouldn't be there.
You and each of the others here that are absolutely convinced that this time is the one time in history that this actually happened get vindicated.
But what if the video doesn't show it? What if the toxicology is completely normal? Are you going to regret being so absolutely sure? Are you going to come back here and say "okay, I was wrong."
I'm asking that you wait until the evidence is evaluated to make a decision. Reports aren't proof. Evidence is proof. And given the history of this type of claim a little proof before judgment is absolutely warranted.
This also happened in France in 2022. People were detained, preliminary charges filed. And then the cases vanished. Not great reports of convictions. No "there is nothing to worry about, the criminals have he brought to justice."
In this current case they have arrested maybe a dozen. If they are guilty then throw the book at them. But the guilty should come only after the evidence has been evaluated. And a report is not evidence. That's suspicion.
This is a good response. And I did read the wiki you shared. In regards to video evidence, this festival had a lot of non-venue performances, I just don't know where the people were when they said they'd been poked.
Also, it's easier to prove this than disprove it. For example if the tox report is negative then maybe theres something that wasn't texted for, or maybe the point is fear. People could be going around with pins rather than syringes.
Of course no evidence means no conviction, and some people doubting what they thought they experienced.
For me 145 people claiming something happened is evidence that something happened. (Ranging from 145 hallucinating or colluding all the way to 145 being targeted by a nefarious needle gang.)
