Women, girls targeted in French syringe attacks

Police in France are investigating after at least 145 people reported being jabbed with syringes during a nationwide daylong summer music festival.

The incidents happened on Saturday, during the annual Fete de la Musique festival, the country's interior ministry said.

It added that 12 suspects had been taken into custody, and that the investigation into what happened at the nationwide street party had kicked into high gear.

Investigators are especially interested in social media posts made before the event that appeared to urge people to target women at the events.

The ministry said in a statement that "some victims were taken to hospital for toxicological tests" but did not respond to speculation that the needle jabs could have involved date-rape drugs including Rohypnol and GHB, which attackers may have administered in an attempt to render their victims unconscious and vulnerable to sexual assaults.

Police in Paris said victims there included a 15-year-old girl and an 18-year-old male. In the small city of Angouleme in southwest France, four people have been arrested for allegedly jabbing as many as 50 people with needles, France 24 reported.

The Le Monde newspaper said many of the victims did not seem to notice what had happened immediately but experienced dizziness, nausea, and discomfort, and noticed needle marks later.

The newspaper said substances such as GHB typically disappear from the body within a few hours of being administered, so do not always turn up in toxicology tests.

Thomas Bernard, a deputy public prosecutor in the northeast city of Metz, told the Agence France-Presse news agency two men aged 20 and 44 had been taken into custody there and will be charged with assault with a weapon and administering a harmful substance.

"There are 16 victims, young women, mostly minors, who presented themselves at the hospital," he said of the situation in the city.

Mayor Francois Grosdidier said on social media most of the girls who had been targeted in Metz were between the ages of 14 and 20.

Grosdidier said police are hoping the people they have in custody will lead them to others.

"I hope the investigation, especially examining their mobile phones, will help identify other attackers," he said.

BFMTV added that officers took a total of 305 people into custody during the one-day festival for a range of offenses. Last year, the total was 22.

BFMTV said the festival, which was part of World Music Day, was particularly crowded this year, with several million people thought to have taken part.