At the Fête de la Musique —a yearly, nationwide street music festival in France—close to 150 individuals claimed to have already been pricked by syringes. One of those impacted was 22-year-old Manon. The beloved annual festival typically draws millions of revelers to the streets for music, merriment and masquerade. This year, safety concerns reached a frightening new level.
Manon elected to withhold her last name from publication out of concern for her personal safety. Her experience went viral on TikTok after she was injected without her consent while celebrating the victory. She looked down to see a European lady tapping her on the arm. Almost instantly, a tingling feeling spread through her body like it had when she had received a coronavirus vaccine. About half an hour later, Pam’s new injection mark showed up on her arm.
“I began to feel that same tingly, fuzzy feeling in the muscle, like you get when you get a vaccine,” Manon shared.
One of the feminist influencer Abrège Soeur issued warnings about upcoming attacks aimed at women. She warned her social media followers about the attacks that were to come. She highlighted that these actions are intended to do more than just frighten or disable victims. They want to terrorize the hell out of them.
“The objective isn’t only to drug women. It’s to instill fear in them,” – Abrège Soeur
Soeur’s cautions surfaced before the festival and went viral almost instantly. Speculation of needle attacks circulated almost immediately from Facebook to Twitter to TikTok. She shared how these kinds of rumors can increase panic among event goers. The moment people begin talking about needle attacks, that just takes off. The more people that can bubble it up in a DM group, or somebody else just picks it up, and it starts to snowball from there Genna –>
Manon’s experience pushed her to pursue medical treatment. Here’s a picture of her experience in the emergency room from 4am – 7am this past Sunday morning. Her experience compelled her to take action, feeling that by bringing awareness to the issue she could help make festival environments safer for all attendees.
She called awareness raising a key step. Look, I have not heard any testimonies from individuals who have gotten injected,” she stated.
French police followed up decisively by arresting 14 men. These suspects, aged 19 to 44 inclusive, are associated with a number of needle spikings being slashed in Cornwall and Devon. Among these thousands of people are French citizens and foreign nationals alike. To date, not a single arrest has been formally made.
Police spokeswoman Agathe Foucault could only confirm the detentions and stressed the investigation still continues into these alarming incidents. Note that Minister of Justice Gérald Darmanin has interjected himself into the ongoing debate. He points to the very recent need for better safety at public events.
Even with the frightening incidents, Manon told us she was resolute in not allowing fear to feed into her enjoyment of the festival. The Fête de la Musique is supposed to be a celebration of good vibes, music, dancing, enjoying life. Somebody was trying to mess up that moment, to kill that spirit,” she declared. I just said I can’t let this thing beat me. For the record, I don’t want to be sad or angry. I don’t want to let them win.”
