"We must be prepared to do something active about it," Stafilidis told the Swedish newspaper Göteborgs-Posten, expressing hope that conventional measures like guards and volunteers would suffice against molestation.
Earlier, however, such measures proved all but sufficient, as dozens of sexual assaults were reported to the police during the Putte i Parken festival in Karlstad alone, with the youngest victim being only twelve. The unprecedented wave of sexual abuse triggered Swedish police to fight back with odd measures such as handing out bracelets emblazoned with "Don't Paw Me" at events frequented by young people to raise awareness. Ironically, some of the molesters were notoriously reported to be wearing the very same bracelets.
"It was an unfortunate wording, I believe," Karlstad police deputy chief Urban Bengtsson told Swedish Radio, vowing to review press communication procedures.
Professor of criminology Jerzy Sarnecki said the police should "keep mum" until perfectly sure.
"There is a weird panic these days surrounding foreign young men, above all Muslims who are supposed to come to Sweden with the intention of raping or molesting Swedish women. This is not true, even if such things, of course, occur," Sarnecki told Swedish Radio.
"In Finland, festivals remain calm and safe places to celebrate and have fun. I hope they stay like this even in the future," Provinssi's information officer Johannes Kinnunen told Finland's national broadcaster Yle.
after @RSprachrohr came on stage the sky looked like this. it was pretty cool. #provinssi pic.twitter.com/91TjpumkVx
— tiiaapauliina (@tiiaapauliina) 3 июля 2016 г.
