Women are warned not to go out alone at night in Swedish town after multiple sex attacks by ‘foreigners’
- Women in Östersund, Sweden, warned not to go out alone after dark
- Follows spike in assaults in city centre by 'men of foreign appearance'
- Police added that attacks are unusual as 'no perpetrators were drunk'
Women
in a town in northern Sweden have been warned not to walk alone at
night in the wake of a spike in violent assaults and attempted rapes.
Police
in Östersund made the unusual move to ask women not to go out
unaccompanied after dark, after reports of six brutal attacks by 'men of
foreign appearance' in just over two weeks.
Speaking
at a press conference on Monday, police said they 'have never seen
anything like it in Östersund', a small town in the north of Sweden with
a population of just 45,000.
No-go area: Police in Östersund
(pictured) have asked women and children not to go out alone after
dark, after reports of six brutal attacks by 'men of foreign appearance'
in just over two weeks
It
is extremely unusual for Swedish authorities to make such warnings, and
it has not been well received in Sweden, a country proud of its
progress in gender equality and women's rights.
All
incidents have taken place in Östersund since the 20th of February, and
involved outdoor attacks where the perpetrators have been unknown to
their female victims.
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A
police spokesperson added that in addition to the increased frequency,
the attacks are also conspicuous as - despite being carried out late at
night - none of the perpetrators were drunk.
'The
cases of the sexual harassment and attempted rapes have involved groups
of up to three people,' regional police chief Stephen Jerand told Sveriges Television.
'What stands out is also that none of these perpetrators have been under the influence,' he adds.
Shocked: Local police said they 'have never seen anything like it in Östersund' in the wake of the attacks
Unusual: Despite the attacks and
sexual assaults being carried out at night in Ostersund, police noted
that none of the perpetrators were drunk
The
most recent assault took place in the early hours of Sunday morning,
when a woman was became the victim of an attempted rape by three young
men in central Östersund.
She
was brought to the ground by three unknown men shortly after 1am, after
which the men tried to rip her trousers off, but the woman fought back
and managed to escape.
The perpetrators have been described as 'tall, slim, aged 18-25 and speaking Swedish with a foreign accent'.
Just
a few hours later, police received another report of a lone woman being
attacked by a young man in the same neighbourhood in central Östersund.
A
police report states that an unknown man in his late 20s 'whose
appearance was described as foreign' attacked the woman without
provocation.
The
man had reportedly walked up to her and punched her in the face with
his fist, then thrown her to the ground, pushing her head into the
asphalt, before running off.
Sweden, which has a population of
nearly 10 million, welcomed more than 163,000 migrants and refugees in
2015, more than any other European nation per capita
Police
also highlighted an additional four cases in the past two weeks,
including a lone woman assaulted by three men, and a report of a group
of ten-year-old girls being harassed by men in central Ostersund.
The
warning has been widely criticised, including by representatives of the
local government, with many arguing that women should not have to
'adapt' to abusers.
'I
am adverse to the solution being to tell women and children to sat at
home, that can never be the solution for us,' local government
commissioner AnnSofie Andersson told Sveriges Radio.
Sweden welcomed nearly 163,000 migrants and refugees in 2015, more than any other European nation per capita.
The
Scandinavian country, which has a population of nearly 10 million,
imposed compulsory border-control ID checks in January to try to curb
the influx.
Europe
is facing it's biggest wave of immigration since the Second World War,
with millions risking their lives to leave war and terror behind, or
simply to seek a better life on another continent.
The
latest UN report shows that in the first two months of 2016, more than
130,000 refugees and migrants crossed the Mediterranean Sea - more than
the total number for the first half of 2015.
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