Female tourists at French music festival report stabbings, rape, being injected with date-rape drugs
Trigger warning: This article contains mentions of rape.
Female tourists who attended a music festival in Paris last weekend reported widespread violence, including being injected with date-rape drugs, and seeing stabbing attacks and rape.
Held nationwide in mid-June, Fête de la Musique is France's biggest annual open-air music festival, where residents and tourists are encouraged to play music outside, including streets, parks, and even from one's balcony. Based on reports from Sunday's festival, however, violence took away what was supposed to be the weekend's Bohemian vibe.
Per Daily Mail, citing police reports, 243 people were arrested on Sunday across the country, with 148 of those in Paris alone. The arrests were connected to violent acts allegedly performed as the festival progressed. Police reported the stabbing of at least two people, sexual assault, rape, muggings, and girls being stabbed with syringes, despite the presence of cordoned-off spaces for women and disabled people in key locations throughout the city.
In a video going viral on X, a female victim claimed being "beaten" by two "North African women" during the pandemonium.
"One of the girls who had already thrown my phone to the ground and hit my friend then approached us. She pushed my friend to the ground and started hitting us and kicking us in the head," the female said.
"About three minutes later, some men arrived, followed by the police. But there was nothing we could do. The girls gave their version of events, while my friend and I were left in tears," she added.
In another video, a female Irish attendee warned followers on TikTok to stay away from the festival.
"There's no music. It's World War Z," she said, referencing the Brad Pitt film where fast-moving zombies took over the world. "It's only sirens and mobs and pandemonium. It's like the apocalypse."
Police reported more than 10 incidents of women being injected with unidentified substances. A man who, according to police, was "carrying syringes on his belt" was detained but managed to run away.
In the 9th arrondissement, a central district in Paris, a young woman who was inside a private residence was allegedly injected and then raped by a man.
The Paris suburbs were not immune to the violence. A 48-year-old man, now arrested, allegedly sexually assaulted a 12-year-old girl in the northern suburb of Gagny. In the suburb of Nogent-sur-Marne, a 15-year-old girl reported she was raped after she attended a concert.
Overcrowding and chaos
A British witness quoted by Daily Mail said the chaos supposedly began as the streets of Paris became packed with festival goers.
"Streets became dangerously overcrowded, and troublemakers took advantage," the witness said. "A group of young men, some in Paris Saint-Germain football shirts, began punching people, causing chaos. People were screaming, and there was a real fear that the fighting would cause a massive crush as people tried to get away."
A clip circulating on social media shows a group of men taking turns kicking another man who was lying on the ground, while another appeared to smash a nearby vehicle with a bar stool.
Yet another video shows festival goers standing on the roof of an SUV as its owner looked to be asking them to get off.
Elsewhere on the streets of Paris, fights allegedly broke out in the city center. Per reports, car windows were smashed, store lootings were attempted, and thieves ran rampant. Police officers resorted to using tear gas to control crowds.
Similar incidents allegedly occurred in last year's Fête de la Musique, with Lamia El Aaraje, deputy mayor of Paris, saying there were "excesses, incidents, lots of sexual violence." There were reports of women and girls being stabbed with syringes, as well.
The past weekend's festival had close to 5,000 police officers. According to a senior Interior Ministry source, however, they were ordered to only intervene if "absolutely necessary."
