Swedish music festival Bravalla 2018 cancelled amid rape and sex abuse reports

One of Sweden's biggest music festivals is being cancelled in 2018 after one reported rape and multiple allegations of sexual assault at this year's event.

The weekend saw tens of thousands of music lovers head to Bråvalla, near the eastern Swedish town of Norrköping, to watch headliners System of a Down, Linkin Park, Alesso and The Killers.

But police said the festival was marred by 11 reports of sexual assault and a rape, which happened while Swedish musician Håkan Hellström performed on Friday night (30 July).

The organisers said in a statement: "There are no words for how incredibly sad we are about this, and we want to condemn it in the most serious terms. This is not f*****g okay. We do not accept this at our festival."

The music festival said it had attempted to prevent rapes and sexual abuses but "some men — because we are talking about men — apparently can't behave. It's a shame."

The festival, which started in 2013 and draws about 40,000 people, urged people to "take care of each other, choke hatred and violence and let the music win."

The organisers, German-based company FKP Scorpio, did not say if or when the festival will return, nor if reported financial losses from last year's event had anything to do with the decision.

It comes after numerous sexual abuse claims, including five reports of rape, were made during and after last year's annual festival.

It led British band Mumford and Sons, which headlined the 2016 festival, to threaten to boycott Bråvalla until "we've had assurances from the police and organizers that they're doing something to combat what appears to be a disgustingly high rate of reported sexual violence."

Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven described last year's attacks on women as "totally unacceptable" and said laws on sexual assault would be tightened in the country after other festivals experienced similar problems.