Reports indicate that police in Sweden have been covering up a series of sexual assaults that were committed at a music festival by refugees. According to the claims, the refugees in question were mostly youths from Afghanistan, and they allegedly molested girls as young as 11 years old at the annual “We Are Stockholm” Festival.
A leaked police report read, “The problem of young men rubbing themselves up against young girls returned as in previous years. These are so-called refugee youths mostly from Afghanistan. The group was also responsible for several fights during the evening.”
Stockholm police eventually made a public statement on the matter, saying that there were “relatively few crimes”. Now, many are saying that the police covered up the incidents. Some people believe that the police didn’t want to expose the incident because it would provide fuel for Swedish politicians who are against Sweden’s open border policy.
Officer Peter Argen said, “We sometimes dare not to say how it is because we think it might play into the hands of the Sweden Democrats.”
However, other law enforcement officials are displeased that such serious incidents were not properly reported.
The head of communications for the Stockholm Police Varg Gyllander stated, “As the person responsible for communications in Stockholm, I am self-critical, we should have communicated that. I actually do not know why it did not happen. I actually do not know why it did not happen. The problem is probably not the police work as such, but that we have failed to communicate what has been done and what has happened.”
Sweden Democrats Parliament Member Bjorn Soder said, “It is a scandal without equal. This must be investigated immediately. Could this be something that happened at several locations in the country that they do not bother to tell you certain things because it could play into the hands of a particular party?”
According to some of the young victims, groups of boys reportedly encircled and molested them on multiple occasions at the event. In most cases, the guards at the festival merely spoke with the offenders, and they would try to relocate them to a different area of the crowed. However, this did not stop the offenders from returning to the same spot. The girls reported that they were touched “everywhere”.
So far, no offenders have been charged for any crimes. However, National Police Commissioner Dan Eliasson has stated that the actions of the officers will be reviewed following the incident. An investigation has also been demanded by Police Union President Även Lena Nitz.
Similar incidents have occurred at the same festival in prior years. Guards, volunteers and police officers supervising the event were told to be very alert and intervene as soon as they saw any signs of trouble.
The “We Are Stockholm” Music Festival takes place every year, usually attracting around 200,000 visitors. Most of the attendees are between the ages of 13 and 19.
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