The Swedish police said on Tuesday that they were investigating reports that dozens of young women and girls were sexually assaulted at two music festivals in Sweden last weekend.
The police said there had been five reports of rape and 12 reports of sexual molestation at the Bravalla Festival in Norrkoping, about 100 miles southwest of Stockholm, while 32 sexual assaults had been reported at Putte i Parken, a music festival in Karlstad, about 190 miles west of Stockholm.
The police have been examining seven suspects, six of them foreigners, whose ages range from under 18 to 35, Inspector Nystrom said; no arrests have been made.
The Swedish police have already been under scrutiny. The Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter accused the police of failing to publicize details about sexual assaults at a festival in Stockholm last summer until the newspaper drew attention to the episode. The newspaper also accused the authorities of failing to warn the public ahead of the festival that similar attacks had taken place in 2014 and suggested that the police were trying to avoid an anti-immigrant backlash.
In Germany, the police have been investigating reports of dozens of sexual assaults in the western city of Cologne on New Year’s Eve. The police said the attackers appeared to have “a North African or Arabic” appearance, heightening tensions over migrants.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
The police said there had been five reports of rape and 12 reports of sexual molestation at the Bravalla Festival in Norrkoping, about 100 miles southwest of Stockholm, while 32 sexual assaults had been reported at Putte i Parken, a music festival in Karlstad, about 190 miles west of Stockholm.
The police have been examining seven suspects, six of them foreigners, whose ages range from under 18 to 35, Inspector Nystrom said; no arrests have been made.
The Swedish police have already been under scrutiny. The Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter accused the police of failing to publicize details about sexual assaults at a festival in Stockholm last summer until the newspaper drew attention to the episode. The newspaper also accused the authorities of failing to warn the public ahead of the festival that similar attacks had taken place in 2014 and suggested that the police were trying to avoid an anti-immigrant backlash.
In Germany, the police have been investigating reports of dozens of sexual assaults in the western city of Cologne on New Year’s Eve. The police said the attackers appeared to have “a North African or Arabic” appearance, heightening tensions over migrants.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
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