Mumford & Sons to Boycott Swedish Festival
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The band have warned they will boycott a Swedish music festival after 17 reports of women who were sexually assaulted at the event last weekend.
Police have received reports of up to five reported rapes and 12 sexual assaults during Bravalla, Sweden’s largest festival.
Mumford & Sons wrote on Facebook:
Zara Larsson, a Swedish pop star, unleashed a flurry of angry tweets, after learning a woman was raped during her set at the festival.
Her tweet was in Swedish (obviously) but translated it reads:
“You deserve to burn in hell. [Damn] you for making girls feel insecure when they go to a festival. I hate guys. Hate hate hate. How am I supposed to take it seriously when you say ‘not all men’, ‘I’m a nice guy, I don’t rape’? Where do all the ‘nice guys’ go when girls are raped? Are you too busy telling women how nice you are?”
Stefan Lofven, the Swedish Prime Minister, condemned the “totally unacceptable” acts, claiming the sexual assault laws would be tightened after these attacks. Associated Press has said that 32 reports were mostly filed due to “attacks by boys or young men” against female attendees, with the youngest girl being 12 years old.
12. Years. Old.
Police have, however, identified seven men involved with the attacks, who are in for questioning.
This is obviously not just a problem unique to Sweden.
Last year, three cases of sexual assault were reported at Glastonbury, and a man was arrested for raping a 21-year-old woman at Essex’s V Festival.
Officer Carsten Andersen described the numbers as “nothing out of the ordinary at such a big event, although every single case is too much.”
The fact that the a police officer has basically said “it’s the norm at festivals” is disgusting. And needs to stop.
Festivals are a place for luminous paint, music and laughs.
Not this crap.