Swedish festival Bråvalla has been cancelled for 2018, following reports of four rapes and 23 sexual assaults on-site this weekend.
Bråvalla took place this weekend (28 June – 1 July), with The Killers, The Chainsmokers, System Of A Down, Linkin Park, Prophets Of Rage and many more performing at the Östergötland event in the south-east of Sweden.
Between Thursday and Sunday of this year’s edition, four rapes and 23 sexual assaults were reported, prompting organisers to cancel the 2018 festival. As the Guardian report, the festival’s organisers stated: “Certain men … apparently cannot behave. It’s a shame. We have therefore decided to cancel Bråvalla 2018.”
Last year five rapes and 12 cases of sexual assault were reported at Bråvalla. Acts including Mumford and Sons (who called the event “hideous”) condemned the festival, with Zara Larsson tweeting “Damn you people who shamelessly rape a girl in public. Damn you guys who make a girl feel unsafe when they go to a festival. I hate guys. Hate hate hate.”
“How am I supposed to take it seriously when you say ‘not all men’, ‘I’m a nice guy, I don’t rape’? Where does all the ‘nice guys’ go when girls are raped? Are you too busy telling women how nice you are?”
She added: “It’s not fucking hard to be generalised. It’s hard to feel insecure about a festival where you just wanna go to have fun and enjoy. BUT YOU CAN’T, BECAUSE OF MEN. UGH.”