This seems like typical sensationalist local or tabloid news coverage. Very little evidence is given here that syringes were involved in assaults. Is it impossible? No. But the vast majority of abusive and dangerous people are gonna use alcohol to assault a woman. And it’s more likely to be someone she knows instead of a total stranger.

And WTFis going on with that article anyway?

Before the party, posts on social media had called for women to be targeted during the festivities.

Instead of linking to a news story about those posts, it’s a link to an article about a fictional netflix series.

Officials did not say if these were cases of so-called needle spiking with dateremoved drugs such as Rohypnol or GHB, used by attackers to render victims confused or unconscious and vulnerable to sexual assault. There was a spate of such attacks in the U.K. and a number of other European nations about three years ago.

Now this is the amazing part of the article. Police aren’t even saying that any of these were drug injections. Then, the article confidently says “there was a spate of such attacks in the UK” and links to an older article. That one is very local newsy, but they at least interview an expert.

Professor Adam Winstock, who runs the Global Drugs Survey, told CBS News that it would be difficult to inject someone with a needle or syringe with enough of a drug to spike them without them noticing.

“Whether or not we’ve got copycats who are simply going around with a needle and jabbing it into people, whether it’s a safety pin or something, I don’t know,” he said.

“I think we need to put the threat of needle injections in perspective,” he added. “The most common way people will attempt to take advantage will be adding things to alcoholic beverages, and the drug most commonly involved will be adding more alcohol.”

Winstock said the scale of the problem of spiking in general remains unclear.

“We have no good data on just how common this is, but what we do know is that most women who were taken advantage of while intoxicated with drugs and alcohol did not report it to the police, and they don’t report it because of shame, stigma, uncertainty about what happened.”

As far as I’m concerned each of these women has the legal right to murder these fucking creeps in broad daylight

Men should be made to fear what a woman might do in revenge

Men everyday giving more reasons to choose the bear.

This is exactly what my mom warned me about 20 years ago

What the fuuuck that’s terrifying, I got my drink drugged at a concert once that I’m pretty sure was intended for my girlfriend.

not even joking I would permit women to commit acts of vigilantism if I was in power

catcallers boil my piss… it should be legal to puncture the tyres of offenders at the very least

if you catch their license plate it should be the job of the DVLA to impound their car

this article is so weird and is doing a lot of legwork to have the reader draw a conclusion that hasn’t even been confirmed by officials in France??

like 145 people were all stabbed with needles?? I mean, sure its one thing to scratch/jab someone with a needle but if you were trying to get someone to ingest GHB/another dateremoved drug, surely spiking a bunch of drinks would be way easier at a festival than presumably carrying around a vial of some injectable drug and having to actually push down on the plunger after sticking someone with the needle???

Before the party, posts on social media had called for women to be targeted during the festivities.

why is this an embedded link that I presumed was going to be a link to an article about the threats/posts, but is instead actually just a separate 2 month old article about some UK Netflix drama about an incel??

In Paris, investigations were opened after three people, including a 15-year-old girl and an 18-year-old male, reported being stabbed in separate incidents across Paris, prosecutors said.

Fourteen participants in the festivities were seriously injured, including a 17-year-old who was hospitalized after being found sitting on the street with stab wounds to the lower abdomen.

Were the majority of these people actually stabbed/scratched with a knife or something - because i would not call the site of a needle prick a ‘stab wound’ (although I get the phrasing if that is the case, since those mentioned are victims of some sort of ‘stabbing’ either way) and for someone to have multiple across their lower abdomen sounds like they were actually stabbed by a knife or something. I mean, I guess someone could’ve just jabbed them multiple times with a needle

Thirteen members of law enforcement were also injured.

honestly don’t believe that 13 cops were all also stabbed by needles, if only because they all should have been completely sober unlike the festival goers and - surely if you are a gun-toting cop and feel yourself get stabbed with a needle, you’re not gonna ignore it and go “they got away” & yet the fact that 13 of them somehow all apparently did so?

and like sure, as someone who has been a t1 diabetic for 15+ years - it is not hard for me to imagine someone taking like a 30G needle and making a few quick pokes into someone’s exposed skin in a large crowd & managing to get away - but to do it to 13 cops and 130 other people across the entire country??? and no one catches a single one of the perpetrators in the moment??

Two men were also arrested in the centre of the north-eastern city of Metz on suspicion of syringe attacks. The regional public broadcaster France 3 reported that one man had been caught with a syringe and a woman who complained of being stabbed with one had recognised the other.

The local prosecutor’s office in Metz said the alleged victims were believed to be under 18. One of the alleged suspects, a man aged 20, was previously known to police for violence.

The local public radio station Ici France reported that several young women had complained of being stabbed with syringes in Évreux and Rouen in Normandy. One woman was taken to hospital with pains in her left arm where she believed a needle had been stuck into her. In the western city of Tours, 13 women complained to fire services on duty at a music event that someone had been pricked them with a syringe.

The Guardian basically has the same vague article but at least gave a bit more information about some of the attacks - so let me be clear that I’m not saying ‘no women were stabbed by needles’ because clearly at least some legitimately were, but even with the additional information about some of the attacks it leaves a lot unsaid…

Like only 1 person has actually been caught with a syringe & only one victim recognized one of the other suspects? Not inconceivable given the fact that ideally, if you’re gonna stab someone with a syringe in a crowd you’d probably do it from behind - but again, a lot of this seems like “there was previous fear about this in 2022 so a lot of drunk people/dumb cops are already primed to think ‘i’ve been stabbed with a needle’ upon seeing a scratch on their arm”

anyways i support women and think all women should be able to kill at least 3 men without impunity (maybe even more) throughout their lives but I think this reporting is on the same level journalistically as something like “200 Kids in California Hospitalized After Parents Report Finding Psychedelics Mixed Into Halloween Candy” or like “Thousands of Teenagers Dead After Doing TikTok Trend Across Country” would be. Do not call me a misogynist or say I don’t believe women because that is not the point of this, admittedly long and unprompted comment.

Wait why is the article about France and the video about the UK?