Cannes Film Festival/Safety concern

Cite the articles where you read this info, particularly the chloroforming bit...sources matter, circumstances matter...

That said, anywhere there is a crowd, take all precautions to avoid being the target of a pickpocket. Keep your hands empty, keep valuables (phone, etc) out of sight (or under your clothes with a neck or waist wallet), and walk with purpose. You will be fine...

I trust you know that violent street crime is astronomically lower in Europe than in the US. I don't "enjoy" wearing an under-clothing belt pouch, but our host (Rick) has been recommending them for 40 years. They completely eliminate risk of pickpocketing.

https://www.ricksteves.com/travel-tips/theft-scams

Would you care to detail that chloroforming story? The "internet" is not always the best place to get reliable, actionable information on safety. But it's not limited to the internet. Fifty years go, my wife's mother warned her about (... I think because she has naturally blonde hair?) abduction by what we today call "human trafficers." But she used a culturally-obsolete term that ended " ... slavers".

I have not been to Cannes, but describing it as "cosmopolitan" is a vast understatement. It has been at least 20 years since France stopped denigrating visitors who don't speak French. (I first went in 1987.) It is also the case that multinational firms have made it widely necessary for more recent generations to get along in English - fairly or unfairly. But you still cannot expect bus drivers or sandwich vendors to be comfortable in English any more than the same workers in the US can speak French!

https://www.ricksteves.com/travel-tips/sightseeing/language-barrier

This is the article that traumatized me! https://iconicriviera.com/crime-safety-issues-french-riviera/

I wonder where these bunch of articles come from, never heard of choloforming whether on trains or elsewhere!

Wouldn't it be more like a chrolophile's attacks while walking in the Cannes countryside? :))

Regarding pickpockets, it's like everywhere when there are crowds and tourists.

As a reminder, the crime rate on the French Riviera is approximately 20 times less than in Los Angeles.

Just because you read it on the internet... does not mean it's true or you need to worry about it LOL!

That article was definitely clickbait.. Just walk away

Thank you all for the replies you've sent so far. Yes I keep telling myself I am from the mean streets of Los Angeles haha. But here at least I have my pepper spray!

Is there anything I should see in Cannes while my sister is at her screening from 7pm-9pm?

pepper spray is illegal in the UK and I think it is in France.

If you are tempted to bring it be sure to check first. If it is deemed a weapon you could have big problems.

In all the times I have been riding trains on the Riviera I have never - not once - heard of chloroforming.

The trains are all open plan - don't you need a private enclosed area for that to be a chance? Please share where you saw that.....

Well, if you're from LA- the first time I went there (on a Denver to Chicago, the very long way round, US rail tour, no less ) there were a couple of lines of the LA metro rail system that we were strongly advised not to ride, due to safety concerns (can't remember which lines now, all these years on). Drug use and guns were what was cited.
While I don't doubt that may or may not have been true late at night, I (deliberately) rode those lines in the daytime and had no safety concerns at all. I actually went out of my way to use those lines to disprove the warnings.

And on this forum there are similar "warnings" about parts of the Seattle bus and light rail network.

That article is just massive over-hype.

Thank you to everyone for making me feel safer!

Just side note the LA metro is very sketchy--my sister's boyfriend got punched in the face at Christmastime last year while just sitting and doing nothing (and that was on the way to Pasadena, a very safe area) so you were very lucky not to have anything happen to you! Just for future notice definitely don't ride the metro in Los Angeles, at any time. They are expanding the metro near me right now and think that people are going to start riding it. But only crazy people ride it---homeless, drug addicts, and mentally ill. My sister's boyfriend has seen men take their pants down and poop on the train (more than once.) We keep asking him not to take the metro but he's Italian.

pick pockets are ubiquitous at European tourist spots and big cities; they are highly skilled often long time crime families. It is not enough to 'be alert' -- you need to be pickpocket proof. No phones in pockets, no wallets in pockets, no valuables in backpacks, Front pockets are no safer than back pockets for wallets. (my husband once put his hand in his pocket and there was already a hand there -- he had no idea until he slipped his own hand in)

So use a cross body purse that you keep under your hand/control in crowded spaces; men can use neck wallets under their shirts. Carry only the valuables you need that day. Consider a cross body phone lanyard for your phone, so it doesn't get set down on a table and snatched or left behind.

but chloroforming on trains by pickpockets -- that is quite absurd. I have been traveling in Europe since 1960 and have never been pickpocketed. We know many people who have been and they all had wallets in pockets or carelessly held purses open behind them. the pickpockets are pros and when they get a card they will have tens of thousands in charges within a couple of hours and it is a mess to deal with.

I got curious so I did a little reading. My take, for what its worth is gassing is "probably" a myth, personal crime is a lot higher than the perceived norm "in Europe" and the event will be a political nightmare with higher odds of protest and disruption than in past years. IF, and its a big "if", there is disruption it would fair to suspect the same targets as many of the recent protesters have targeted, so best to keep clear of those targets. That may require some research.

The authorities have made it clear that they won't put up with much. So that's a good sign.

pick pockets are ubiquitous at European tourist spots and big cities

Naaaa, plenty of large cities and tourist hotspots where the issue is the tiniest fraction of what happens in places like the worst areas of Paris and Barcelona. Cannes. especially during the festival, it's my impression is somewhere above the midpoint; not Barcelona but not Kansas City either. One article said most of the culprits were French, so profiling won't help.

Sounds like fun.

My brother rides the metro to work in Los Angeles all the time, so take that for what it's worth. He's not crazy, nor a drug addict, or homeless, or likely to bother you — just a dad and husband.

Travel Brooke!
Fyi, as Kim says, people who ride the metro in LA county are not all homeless, or drug addicts, etc. as you state. I have traveled on the line from Long Beach to LA, transferred lines, got out at the LA Amtrak station, walked from there to Fr. Boyle's Homeboy Industries, and not been assaulted, and I am not crazy, homeless, a drug addict or mentally ill. That is just one of my trips, all made without incident.Yes it was daytime, but like Kim's brother, the trains are used by regular people. There is a problem in the system, just as there is in other locales and streets. I wouldn't travel on the lines late at night, but please do not paint the picture all black as some biased news outlets or social media posts would have one believe.
Fear can keep one from going and growing. When we went to Kenya and later, Egypt, we had friends who cancelled on us because they were terrified we would be killed there, even though we went during a politically calm time. They missed out on two trips of a lifetime, because they homed in on the scary stories. Don't let that happen to you. Be wise and prudent and have a wonderful time!

When I was working in Hong Kong and had to go over to China weekly to visit our Chinese suppliers the company insisted I go with a company driver because of the chance of abduction. They wouldn't even let me at least get to the border crossing. The driver was also effectively my personal security which for a no-one like me was almost comedic.
Yet at the weekend I could and frequently did go over on my work visa to the same general area and others by public transport.

And I never faced even the slightest difficulty, in fact the exact opposite- all I ever found were kind and generous folk. Those weekend trips (by bus, train and boat) so enriched my time in HK. In fact the only frightening bit was some of the leaky hydrofoils, especially in rough conditions

I went to Colombia twice at the height of the drug violence, and my shipping company insisted on putting us on tours with armed guards on the bus. Yet from what I saw that felt like prudent overkill.

BART in San Francisco is also reported, in some quarters, to now have the same alleged problems as the LA metro and Seattle and it seems most other transit systems in the US.
Having been one of my special case studies at school in the UK I sure ain't giving up on BART that easily. That's the US system I have used the most.
I get the feeling, and I'm sorry to say it, that many Americans talk up perceived issues with mass transit to justify being wedded to the automobile. Blind to the problems that in itself causes.
I heed your warnings, and will be careful and mindful but bluntly if I arrived in LA, SFO or SEA (or any other American city with mass transit) tomorrow will continue to use it.
Yesterday I was talking with a forum member about why Dallas Love Field airport website tells you absolutely nothing (doesn't give any even vague hints) about public transit from the airport- yet there is a very good bus/metro link.
Again there the answer, I can only presume, is that people are just fixated on their car.

Over the years we've had a few posts from people saying they were "gassed" or "Chloroformed" in the process of a robbery, usually in a villa in Tuscany. As far as I remember the incidents were all disproved and removed by the Webmaster (I couldn't find them in a quick search).

IF people were being gassed in France it would be on the big news outlets.

I know Cannes, I know Nice, I know Monaco, and this is so over the top that I believe you’ve stumbled on one of the fake news stories that is being produced by foreign government units overseas to scare people away from democracies, destabilize democratic countries, destabilize their elections, and get their populations to vote against their own interests, all to prove that democracies can’t work, only dictatorships. You need to stay away from the internet or know your sources. This is garbage written by an enemy of democratic societies. This is one of the drawbacks of free speech, but we need to support our schools to educate the one ones because this type of garbage is going to get worse and worse.

To Bets... Hear! Hear!

Don't be fooled by what you see on TV, chloroform would take about 5 minutes of continuous breathing to knock you out.

There are a number of news articles re: Cannes security if you search for “Cannes Protests.” The articles explain what additional security measures will be in place this week.

Brava Betsy. Beautifully written.

Bets nails it.

Bets has it right! Thank you!!

Let me just add, as an occasional resident of Nice and California, let reinforce the message of others and Bets. The main thing you need to do is watch for pickpockets in the trains, at the station and in places where a lot of people gather. Like in Pars, London, Rome, Barcelona, Geneva, you can get pickpocketed. Violent assault in Europe is much more rare.

The idea of getting chloroformed on the train is completely ridiculous, as was noted. The trains to Cannes to the festival will be full of people, quite possibly standing room only. No one is getting chloroformed. Cannes will be filled with security, gates, extra security fences and a lot of people on the streets.

There usually is a free public movie on the beach every night, btw, if you are waiting for your friend. Enjoy. .

Bets and Gooster - spot on.