Swedish music festival is cancelled in 2018 after rape and sexual assault claims

Image source, TT News Agency/Pontus Lundahl

Sweden's biggest music festival is being cancelled in 2018 after one rape and multiple reports of sexual assault at this year's event.

Bravalla was headlined by System of a Down, Linkin Park, Alesso and The Killers at the weekend.

But police in the Swedish town of Norrkoping say they received 11 reports of sexual assault this year.

Officers say the rape victim was attacked while Swedish group H氓kan Hellstr枚m performed on Friday night.

Organisers have announcing that next year's event won't be taking place.

There were also numerous sexual abuse claims made during and after last year's festival with five reports of rape made to police.

Mumford and Sons said they about women's safety following their headline slot in 2016.

"We won't play at this festival again until we've had assurances from the police and organisers that they're doing something to combat what appears to be a disgustingly high rate of reported sexual violence."

Image source, TT News Agency/Pontus Lundahl

The German company which organises Bravalla, FKP Scorpio, said it was a shame that some men couldn't behave properly and didn't think it was safe to put on another event.

"Words cannot describe how incredibly sad we are about this, and we most seriously regret and condemn this," said a press release on the festival's website.

"This is not OK. We do not accept this at our festival. Therefore, we have decided not to organise Bravalla 2018."

Image source, Google Maps

Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven described last year's attacks on women as "totally unacceptable" and said laws on sexual assault would be tightened in the country.

In May, more than 25 UK music festivals turned off their websites for a day as part of a zero-tolerance campaign highlighting sexual assaults.

The Association of Independent Festivals (AIF) says it wants festival-goers to be aware of on-site support services available to help victims.

It follows two rapes at last year's Reading Festival.

Campaign group Girls Against are also raising awareness of the problem of people being groped at gigs.

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