Why Would Swedish Police ‘Cover Up’ a String of Sexual Assaults at a Festival in Stockholm?

“I don’t think the police have covered this up more than any other harassment cases. Music festivals are well known as fertile grounds for sex crimes. Myself and almost all the women that I know, have been subjected to sexual abuse before. According to studies, Sweden has the highest number of sexual assaults in the EU—81 percent of Swedish women say that they been subjected to harassments. We have a strong alcohol and rape culture in Sweden, while a very small percentage of the culprits end up getting convicted for their crimes.”

Paula Bieler—Member of far-right party Swedish Democrats

“We cannot, of course, be sure of what happened. But we do know that some police sources claimed that they had taken into consideration whether we as a party, would benefit from the fact that asylum seekers assaulted young girls. If that is the case it is definitely a scandal.

The only acceptable reason to keep that kind of information from the public is that it needs to be classified due to investigative work. The police should not let politics affect their work.”

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Linda Snecker—Judicial Spokesperson for the left-wing party Vänsterpartiet

“All authorities, the police included, can make mistakes. In this case, the mistake is extremely serious and my party thinks that is problematic. For several years, we have been suggesting that an independent authority is put in place—an authority that handles the reports against the police. They should not investigate themselves, as is the case today. Sweden needs a feminist legal system that takes violence towards women seriously.”

Varg Julander—Press Officer for the Stockholm Police Department

“We have never covered up an event and we never will. In this case, the policemen on duty at this particular event regarded that the evening was relatively calm. We had 700,000 people in central Stockholm that day, and only 100 reports on criminal offenses. Retrospectively, it was a mistake not to report the high number of sexual harassments.

It is important to note that the Swedish police never exposes the ethnicity of the felons publicly—as long as it is not relevant to the case. In this matter, I have to say that it is not relevant and it would not have been reported had the crimes been reported.”

Ellen Tiala—Political Scientist

“It is still too early to say anything about the cover up, as we don’t know exactly what occurred yet. But we do know that a lot of people are using this story to further their racist agenda. They are saying that it is due to cultural differences between Swedes and immigrants that such incidents happen. But when incidents of sexual harassment have happened in the past, people with racist motives have not cared. I think that exposes a ludicrous double standard.”

Gudrun Schyman—Leader of the feminist party, Feministiskt initiativ

“I don’t think there really was a cover up by the police—or at least not in the way the media has framed it. Sexual harassment isn’t anything new; It happens to women all the time and therefore in this case it could have pass unnoticed.

The way things are at the moment, a crime committed by immigrants can be used to serve the anti-immigrant agenda. Thus turning women into a tool in a debate that mainly concerns immigration.”