Prosecutors in southern France have prosecuted a 20-year-old man in connection with a new wave of needle attacks that have perplexed police and frightened authorities since the beginning of the year.
On Sunday, the man was arrested two days after approximately 20 people were injured while recording a televised concert on a Riviera beach in Toulon on Friday evening.
After news of the stabbings generated fear in the gathering, police were sent in to take one woman to the hospital. The defendant was identified by two women who claimed he attempted to assault them, prompting prosecutors in Toulon to accuse him of aggravated and premeditated armed violence.
The suspect rejects the claims completely at this point in the investigation, but the prosecution’s office believes there is enough evidence to initiate a case and bring him to a judge (to be charged), according to Toulon prosecutor Samuel Finielz.
The attacks in Toulon occurred during a live taping of the TF1 channel’s “The Song of the Year” show, which aired on Saturday night. Since the beginning of the year, at least 100 occurrences of needle injuries among young people have been registered at France’s nightclubs and festivals.
A wave of “needle spiking” has been investigated by British authorities, and police in Belgium and the Netherlands are also looking into isolated occurrences.
Over the weekend, new attacks were reported at two French music events. Six youngsters aged 17 to 18 years old filed complaints at a festival in Belfort, eastern France, after experiencing sudden intense pain in their hands or arms. Seven more individuals were injured by needles at a festival in Vic-Fezensac, southwest France, where police later apprehended a guy, according to local prosecutor Jacques-Edouard Andrault.
Since the beginning of the year, the majority of the victims have been young women.
They frequently report experiencing the same symptoms — nausea, dizziness, and acute pain — and then discovering a needle puncture on their skin later.
From the western cities of Nantes and Rennes to the south and Atlantic beaches, as well as the French Alps, cases have been recorded all over the country.
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All victims are encouraged to have blood testing done afterward, and some have been given HIV and hepatitis prevention treatment. However, it appears that no harmful substances or medications were injected into the victims in France. In April, Thierry Fontaine of the UMIH hospitality group told AFP that the attacks had created “hysteria” among young people.
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