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Mass sexual assault reported at Germany music festival

The attacks are similar to those reported in Cologne and other cities on New Year's Eve

Samuel Osborne
Thursday 02 June 2016 02:51 EDT
Three women went straight to police at the Schlossgrabenfest music festival in Darmstadt, complaining they had been encircled then sexually harassed by a group of men
Three women went straight to police at the Schlossgrabenfest music festival in Darmstadt, complaining they had been encircled then sexually harassed by a group of men (BORIS ROESSLER/AFP/Getty Images)

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Eighteen women have said they were sexually assaulted at a music festival in Germany.

Three men from Pakistan aged between 28 and 31 have been arrested and police are still searching for three men who may also have been involved.

The attacks are similar to those reported in Cologne and other cities on New Year's Eve, when as many as 1,000 women were groped and robbed.

Police said three women reported being groped at the Schlossgrabenfest music festival in Darmstadt on Saturday, saying they had been encircled then sexually harassed by a group of men.

By Tuesday, 15 more women had made complaints of being sexually assaulted in a similar manner at the festival.

The three men who have been arrested are asylum seekers from Pakistan. All have been charged with sexual assault charges.

Police have said the number of complaints could rise and are hunting for between two and three more men.

Cologne victims speak

The attacks are similar to those which occured on New Year's Eve in Cologne and other German cities.

Many of the perpetrators were allegedly of North African or Arab descent and the assaults sparked a backlash against refugees throughout Europe.

Protests by anti-refugee groups swept the country following the New Year's Eve attacks and support for refugees in Europe fell.

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