An outdoor concert in Germany called Schlossgrabenfest was marred by dozens of alleged sexual assault on women. Police are investigating reports filed by 26 women (so far) who claim they were assaulted Saturday at a massive outdoor concert that had 80,000 in attendance. CNN reports police are looking for up to 10 men:
Most of the reports were filed by women between ages 16 to 25, said Ferdinand Derigs, a spokesman for Darmstadt police.
As many as 10 men may have been involved in the assaults, he said.
Three Pakistani men have been arrested in connection with incident. The trio is between ages 28 and 31, and allegedly assaulted two or three women, authorities said.
One of the men has lived in Germany for some time, while the other two moved recently.
The incident is reminiscent of the assaults that took place in Cologne, Germany last New Year’s Eve. In Cologne, groups of immigrant men surrounded young women and sexually assaulted them, often robbing them of phones or valuables at the same time. Over 1,500 reports were eventually filed with police, more than 500 of which involved sexual assault and three of which were alleged rapes. Most of the attackers identified by police were migrants.
The attacks are perhaps more similar to what took place in Stockholm, Sweden at an outdoor concert in 2015. Police were accused of a cover up for failing to report that 19 women had come forward and alleged they were assaulted by male asylum seekers, one woman said she was raped. Similar attacks had taken place the year before at the same concert. Only after the assaults in Germany on New Year’s Eve did the earlier attacks in Stockholm become news. BBC Newsnight did a report on the Stockholm attacks:
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