More than 40 sex assaults reported at two Swedish festivals

More than 40 cases of rape and sexual assault were reported after two festivals in Sweden at the weekend.

Five incidents of rape and 12 sexual assaults were reported at Bravalla Festival and 35 sexual assaults reported at Putte I Parken.

The youngest reported victim at Putte I Parken is 12 years old.

A friend of one victim claims reports were not taken seriously at Putte I Parken when security staff were alerted.

"A guy ran his hand between the legs of one of my friends," said the unnamed youth to Sweden's AftonBladet newspaper.

"When she went to a bouncer, she was asked if she was drunk.

"I don't know what the bouncers are doing there if they can't help when people do this."

Another victim claims she was held down by a young male while he "started humping against my body".

Thousands of young people attended Putte I Parken in Karlstad, Sweden.

Swedish police are now looking for a number of males in connection with the attacks.

"We have five counts of suspicious rape," police at Bravalla festival told Newsbeat.

"In three [cases] we have interrogated three suspects. We've decided to release them. There may be an investigation into sexual offences that are not rape," they said.

Mumford & Sons, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, Hardwell, Bastille, Craig David and Zara Larsson were among the performers at Bravalla, with Zara tweeting her disgust at the attacks.

"For those shamelessly raping a girl in the audience, you deserve to burn in hell," she said, translated from Swedish.

"Holy ****, you guys get girls to feel insecure when they go to the festival. I hate guys."

Zara shared her anger on Twitter.

Police at Putte I Parken said they are looking for witnesses to come forward and their investigations continue.

Newsbeat has contacted both festivals for comment but we are still waiting for their response.

Previously, Newsbeat has spoken to women fighting against groping at gigs and to the band Modern Baseball who have introduced a system to try to protect fans at their concerts.

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