Daily Times

The Sweden’s annual music festival will not take place according to the proposed plan; the organisers have decided to call off the 2018’s festival over reports of ‘rape’ & ‘molestation’ cases, that surfaced a while ago

The police in a statement confirmed that they were investigating numerous rape & molestation related cases. On ground, in the three days festival 22 rapes cases had been reported so far. A local musician Håkan Hellström, sexually assaulted a teenage girl on Friday, confirmed the Police department.

As soon as the news surfaced the media and people got to know about it, the organising company responsible for the smooth conduct of the event, denounced any such allegations for their own face saving and announced that the event will not take place as scheduled, nest year.

“Words cannot describe how incredibly sad we are about this, and we most seriously regret and condemn this. This is not f**ing okay. We do not accept this at our festival,” the statement said.

Saying that they had taken precautionary measure to stop control such incidents, they argued that the problem goes far beyond their control.

“It is a huge social problem that affects every part of our society. Absolutely not just festivals. There are about a hundred rapes every day in Sweden and it is a challenge that society has to face,” they said.

They also denounced the media reports that surfaced that the event was being cancelled due to low budget and finances. It’s more of an ethical move.

“Obviously, it’s not good financially to run a festival associated so strongly with violence and insecurity. But to say that we use violence as an excuse for not doing it next year is remarkable and cynical speculation,” the company said in a statement made to the press.

However, reports of ‘sexual assault’ keep on surfacing at a high rate, with three new reports surfacing on Sunday, that suggested that three more women were raped.

A woman claimed that she was attacked by two men, on the road that leads to the festival. Another victim claimed that she was raped during the concert of Håkan Hellström.

In a fourth report, women claimed that she pleaded but the perpetrator did not listen to her.

“It is my personal opinion that if you cannot carry out festival without there being a crime victim, there should not be a festival,” Agnevik, the police spokesman said.

“Festivals should be a place of joy – for everyone. It will require strong action from the community, organizers, police, and parents and from us if we are to put an end to sexual violence against women,” he further added.