Excited states in 124Xe have been studied via the 12C(124Xe, 124Xe*) Coulomb excitation reaction. Their population cross-sections relative to the 21+ state have been determined from the γ-ray yields observed with Gammasphere. More than twenty absolute E2 strengths for seven off-yrast, low-spin states of 124Xe have been deduced for the first time. The absolute B (E 2) values indicate pronounced O (5) symmetry, even for the off-yrast states with high O (5) quantum number τ, while the O (6) symmetry is substantially broken
