Sting attacks, the psychosis of summer

A fter rummaging through her backpack, Louanne, 21, a nurse, lays out documents on the table: a copy of the complaint made to the Sarrebourg gendarmerie, toxicological analyses, a note of an appointment made for a hair sample at the forensic institute of Metz, as well as a printed photo of his forearm. A sharp sting appears there. The photo was taken on June 11, the day after an evening at the disco. The young girl catches her breath, searches for her words, evokes a real nightmare. She excuses herself, speaks of a muddy state that lasted seventy-two hours. A month after the events, she explains that she has suffered after-effects: her memory is still playing tricks on her.

Read also: Stings in the evening: two men in detention in Toulon, syringes found

“We obviously don’t see anything of this trace of the bite anymore,” she told us, showing us her arm. Yet, what I went through, I would not wish it on my worst enemy.” Disinhibition, nausea, dizziness, vomiting, wobbly legs, dizziness… She remembers having barely reached her hotel room, supported by a friend, then it was blackout. The next day, Louanne is prescribed a toxicological assessment before going to the police station.

Like her, more than 1,700 French people, since January, have filed a complaint against X for wild sting in a festive environment. Investigations difficult to conduct and perpetrators rarely apprehended. Evidence is lacking, related offenses are almost non-existent, and toxicological analyzes often come back negative. However, the testimonies exist with photos of bites, hematomas, and descriptions of the operating mode.

“He’s a perfect threat. It affects intimacy, health” Thomas Arciszewski, researcher in social psychology

Thus, Amélie, 22, stung in a Parisian nightclub, who landed at Saint-Antoine hospital. “I felt like a retracting needle. I was bleeding, with arm pain and a feeling of fear and unease. She reminds the victims that they must dial 17, so that the police can quickly carry out searches on the spot, and then go to carry out analyses. During a festival in Gironde, at the beginning of June, Sophie, who had not been out for two years because of the pandemic, spent part of her evening at the first aid station. After a crowd movement and the feeling that her legs no longer held her, a volunteer was able to see a trace of a sting on her right arm. “Ten years ago, she remembers, I had GHB in a glass at a party. The symptoms were the same.

A speech that Louanne supports. “We have to talk about it, even if the serology is negative, she insists. Finding yourself in this state is very guilt-inducing. In my case, I was injected with GHB. I am convinced of it. But this drug is no longer detectable after a few hours. I went to the lab too late, like many. That same night from June 10 to 11, 900 kilometers away, in an establishment in Six-Fours-les-Plages, near Toulon, a young girl became unwell. That evening, the Eden Bar was sold out, and the 15 cameras filmed every corner of the nightclub. That did not prevent the intrusion of two people suspected of being “bitters”. “It’s shocking, says a security guard at the entrance. Surveillance is clearly reinforced.”

Concentrated, silent, his radar eyes scan the queue. Here, excavations are systematic, supervised by approved “palpation and security” security guards. The victim, a young woman in her twenties, stung in the elbow, immediately filed a complaint. In order to help the investigators, Gilles Pascal, the manager of the establishment, upset by this affair, looked tirelessly at the photos published on social networks. It is finally thanks to the testimonies, the video surveillance systems, the work of the “narcotics” of Sanary and the security guards of the Eden Bar that the two suspects were apprehended. They were charged with aggravated violence and remanded in custody. But out of 1700 complaints, how many arrests?

Sébastien Soulé, departmental secretary of the Alliance police du Var union: “We had three episodes in the Var in June, with three arrests. There was the case of suspicion of needle sticks during a concert on Mourillon beach, Eden Bar and La Marquisanne college with a blood sugar tester. The little sting that just “bleeds”… except that if you sting ten people, even without injecting anything, it creates psychosis. Some may end up with a prescription for an HIV type test. It’s not nothing! “Like this 15-year-old boy, Antoine, who was stung on June 4 during a concert at the Vélodrome in Marseille. Malaise and vomiting of the teenager push Céline, his mother, to take him to the emergency room. After coming up against a refusal in a first hospital, she says that the pediatric emergencies of Saint Joseph Hospital kept her son under observation for the night: “His pediatrician prescribed analyzes for syphilis, hepatitis B , Hepatitis C, HIV. To be renewed in three months. For prevention, Antoine had seventy-two hours of triple therapy. In his case, for lack of positive toxicological results, the complaint made was not taken into account by the police station of the 12th arrondissement of Marseille.

The Ministry of the Interior ensures that it is on the alert and quickly launches investigations. “Complaints, photographs of bites, testimonies, video surveillance… everything is documented and added to the file, explains Camille Chaize, spokesperson for the ministry. This phenomenon already existed in the United Kingdom. Today, the origin is unknown and there is still no record of toxic substances. It’s complicated, it’s case by case. Twenty arrests made since last February, but no syringes found during the attacks… In early May, the General Directorate of Health asked all health professionals to report each case to the poison control centre. Dr. Bonnet, general practitioner and referent at the poison control center in Toulouse: “In the case of chemical submission, the family of benzodiazepines, powerful tranquilizers, can be used. GHB remains the first suspect. But to my knowledge, no substance has been found so far. After an hour, half of the product is already gone. Then, only traces remain in the urine. And after ten or twelve hours, nothing. The time to go to the emergency room and be taken care of, since we do not pass in front of the AVC when we arrive with a bite mark, the traces have disappeared.

After two years of pandemic and canceled festivals, the subject is rarely mentioned among most directors of festive events. At the Secret Nights festival, in Aulnoye-Aymeries, where 50,000 people are welcomed, talking about it is not taboo. After three days of celebration, according to a report revealed by the prefecture, only two proven bites will be observed. Here, the searches are drastic and the prevention unstoppable. The patrols carried out by the association Les Catherinettes, which fights above all against sexist and sexual violence, are constant, both at the campsite and at the concerts. “Any form of chemical submission is punishable by five years’ imprisonment and a fine of 75,000 euros,” explains Juliette, local manager of the association. Camille and Yvan, in charge of the marauding on the campsite this Friday, July 22, invite festival-goers to download the Safer application. Appreciated interventions, as well as having an alert device at hand.

“The question of injections, we think about it, like any other form of chemical submission, launches a festival-goer. We try to be attentive, and having an app that precisely geolocates us in the event of a problem is great!” Jean Baptiste, director of a security company that he does not wish to name, tells how much prevention is essential. Also a teacher, he explains that he has set up risk prevention courses in cultural and artistic festive environments. “I remember a recent case at a festival where a very young audience panicked,” he says. Fifty people made their way to the aid station, saying they had been stung. Not all had been. There is also a psychosis, which reminds me of the affair of the mutilated horses. People had gone crazy with it! Nevertheless, this story of bites is taken very seriously.

“A perfect threat, according to Thomas Arciszewski, researcher in social psychology at the University of Aix-Marseille. It affects intimacy, health. We are in the presence of an aggression of which we do not know the objective. The fear of needles is activated in the brain with a mental over-representation of the risk in the festive environment. It’s like walking alone at night in a parking lot… the risk is overestimated. However, part of our frontal cortex is dedicated solely to making assumptions about the future. Phenomenon, rumor, psychosis? Maybe. But for the victims, reality. Amélie has an appointment in a month for a new HIV serological test. Sophie has since had the courage to file a complaint. Louanne is still waiting for her toxicology results. She would still like to go to a festival in August. Which will mean that fear and its aggressor have not won the game.