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Multiple Sexual Assaults Reported at This Year's the We Are Sthlm Festival

This is not the first year multiple sexual assaults have been reported at the festival.
Screenshot via YouTube.

Multiple sexual assaults have been reported at the 2016 "We Are Stockholm" or "We Are Sthlm" festival. The exact figure has not been confirmed, but news outlets have reported numbers ranging from 22 to 38. We Are Sthlm is Europe's largest youth festival with the majority of attendees between the ages of 13-19.

Seven complaints were reportedly made on Tuesday, the first day of the festival with another 15 reported by Thursday. According to reports, "the majority of the reports had involved men groping girls in the crowd." Police spokesman Kjell Lindgren reportedly added that the assailants in half of the assaults had been identified and the same person committed several of the assaults.

This is not the first time the We Are Sthlm festival has come under scrutiny for their handling of on-site sexual assaults. 38 incidents of sexual harassment were reported in 2014 and 2015. However, an official report of the five-day festival made no mention of the harassment or assaults.

Scheduled performers at this year's We Are Sthlm festival include MNEK, Tim Henri, and Cherrie. In March, we investigated if female-only camp grounds can stop sexual assault at music festivals.