For months French authorities have received hundreds of reports of mysterious “syringe attacks” and have now made their first arrest, taking a Tunisian migrant into custody in Toulon.
The so-called syringe attacks have been taking place across France since at least the start of March. Police claim to have received at least 350 different reports alleging that individuals at various events, such as nightclubs, were assaulted by a sharp object.
The Tunisian man arrested in Toulon is said to be a 20-year-old jobless illegal immigrant living in the country without any residency papers and is already known to the French justice system, having been sentenced in 2020 for domestic violence, Sud Ouest reports.
The Prosecutor of Toulon, Samuel Finielz, said that the illegal alien has denied all of the accusations levelled against him, while two witnesses claimed to have seen the man with a syringe last weekend.
A total of 21 people reported syringe attacks in the evening during a recording for a television programme at a beach in Toulon where the Tunisian was later arrested. He has since been indicted for assault and placed in pre-trial detention.
The Toulon public prosecutor’s office has not given any details as to whether any substances were injected into the victims during the attacks and noted that eight clinical examinations were ongoing. A majority of the alleged victims reportedly had no symptoms.
Of the 350 complaints since March in France, around 200 took place last month, but so far no motivation for the attacks has been discovered.
The phenomenon is not limited to France either, as other countries in Europe have reported similar attacks at nightclubs and other venues, such as Belgium, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom, with victims claiming various kinds of reactions.
“We went outside [the bar] for some fresh air … then I ended up losing all control of my body, the ability to walk, hold my head up, I couldn’t talk — I was projectile vomiting everywhere,” 19-year-old Stafford resident Eva Keeling told the Washington Post last week.
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