But despite the police’s assessment of the festival, they had plenty to keep them occupied, including two rapes.
Late on Saturday evening a female festival official was raped. She felt that she was being followed by a man within the festival area. A short while later he dragged her behind a sales stall and attacked her.
“Unfortunately we have a very weak description of the attacker said Kalmar police spokesman Sven-Erik Karlsson.
The other alleged rape took place on Thursday evening, the first night of the festival. A man was taken into custody but released after the attacker and victim had been interviewed.
“He is still under suspicion. The prosecutor will make a decision about how to proceed at the beginning of next week,” said Karlsson.
A total of 243 crimes were reported during the course of the festival. 48 people were arrested of whom 10 were taken into custody. Of those, two remain suspected of fraud. The two men are alleged to have bought festival tickets with stolen credit cards and sold the tickets on.
A fire broke out in a tent, an incident which the police are treating as arson. Another crime was classified as negligence constituting a public danger.
“That related to people who were setting fire to stuff and who didn’t want to leave the festival area,” said Sven-Erik Karlsson.
One of the main reasons that the festival was so calm compared to previous years was the low attendance this year. In previous years around 30,000 people have attended the festival but this year the total was limited to 23,000.
According to Karlsson, 60 officers were involved in policing the festival. In addition there were 75 security guards.
“We also had help from mounted police from Malmö,” said Karlsson.
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