French police detained 12 people on Sunday after 145 individuals reported being pricked with syringes during a nationwide street music festival, according to France’s interior ministry.
The attacks took place across France, with Paris police confirming at least 13 cases in the capital.
According to the interior ministry, it remains unclear whether the cases of “needle spiking” – in which attackers use syringes to inject victims typically in the arm, leg or buttocks – involved date-rape drugs such as Rohypnol or GHB, which can leave individuals disoriented, unconscious and vulnerable to assault.
“The ministry is taking this very seriously,” a spokeswoman from the interior ministry told CNN on Monday. “Toxicology tests are being done and the investigation is ongoing.”
Millions of people took to the streets over the weekend for the nationwide celebration Fête de la Musique, with officials describing the crowds in Paris as “unprecedented.”
Speaking to French broadcaster CNews, Laurent Nuñez, the Paris police chief, said there were three to four times as many people in Paris as normal.
Ahead of the festival, feminist influencers like Abrège Soeur warned that calls had been made on social media for women to be targeted with syringes.
“These are extremely serious incidents,” Nuñez told CNews, calling the online calls to inject women “completely idiotic.”
In Paris, prosecutors said investigations were opened after three people, including a 15-year-old girl and an 18-year-old man, reported being pricked in separate incidents across the city. All three said they felt unwell afterward, according to CNN affiliate BFMTV.
In addition to the needle attacks, police arrested 371 people across France on Saturday night for various incidents, nearly 90 of them in Paris, the ministry said.
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