Dinkelsbühl (dpa / lby) - Several women are said to have been victims of sexual assault in front of the stage at one of the largest metal festivals in Germany. In one of the cases on the "Summer Breeze" in Middle Franconia, the criminal police are even investigating a serious crime that constitutes rape, said police spokesman Marc Siegl on Tuesday. In total, there were five incidents during the four-day festival last week, in which women were indecently touched during so-called crowd surfing or in the audience in front of the stage.
It was not about accidental touches in the crowd, said Siegl. "We are talking about cases where perpetrators have deliberately exploited that." Among other things, the women were specifically touched under their clothes.
The festival organizers made the incidents public on their Facebook page and called on those affected to get in touch. "Through video surveillance for your and our safety at the festival, we can secure evidence and appropriate authorities will investigate reported incidents," it said.
Police say there are no possible suspects. Determining this is difficult because there were a lot of people crowding in front of the stage who, in contrast to a classical concert, were not sitting properly on chairs. In addition, the injured parties did not see the alleged perpetrators because they were carried over the heads of other people by the crowd while lying on their backs or stomachs while "crowdsurfing".
