German music festival sexual assault toll rises to 26

Berlin, June 1: The number of women who have reported of being sexually assaulted at a German music festival last weekend has risen to 26.

Police reported that thewomen filed 14 criminal complaints, saying that they were encircled and groped by groups of men in ways that recalled mob attacks at chaotic New Year's festivities in Cologne. The festival was held in the western city of Darmstadt.

Initially 18 women had reported assaults, which is when the police said, "The women have reported that the (perpetrators) appeared to be men from the South Asia region."

Police arrested 3 Pakistani men between the age of 28 and 31, two of them asylum seekers.

The Cologne attacks on New Year's Eve-- committed in a crowd of mostly Arabic and North African men-- bewildered Germany and raised public concerns, especially when over 1 million asylum seekers arrived last year and most of them from the Middle East.

OneIndia News