These bikini-clad Swedes team up to end migrant attacks on girls
“We're here to teach these guys how they should behave,” says Siri Bernhardsson, who patrols the pool in a bikini. “We are tired of those who think they can come to Sweden and molest girls.”
(Total 13 photos)
Nurse assistant Siri, 24, is one of four members of a volunteer women's group called the Groping Guards, which patrols the swimming pools of Kalmar in Sweden.
They seek to stop young male migrants molesting women.
Siri Bernhardsson (left) organized a patrol immediately after she heard about a spate of attacks on women across Europe on New Year's Eve. On the right is Groping Guards member Lotta Stenberg.
“It happens at concerts, train stations and swimming pools. Most victims are embarrassed and do not report it to the police.
We know there have been similar attacks in our pool.
Because of all these attacks, the administration was forced to separate the men from the women in the hot tub. This should not happen in Sweden in 2016.”
In Kalmar, a sleepy town south of Stockholm with a population of 36,000, 34 asylum centers have opened for 6,000 migrants.
On New Year's Eve, at least 15 young women in the city's main square reported attacks by migrants. Kalmar police spokesman Johan Brunna described how groups of men "formed rings around the girls and started molesting them".
“They grabbed their breasts and genitals,” he says. “In some cases, they tried to drag the girls into a waiting car, but luckily the girls managed to escape.”
Since October, five women have complained that their bathing suits were groped by asylum seekers at the city's entertainment center, although police acknowledge that many cases remain unreported.
“That's why we started patrolling the pools. Places where women are most vulnerable,” says Siri.
"The pools have become Europe's prime destination for gangs of men who want to prey on vulnerable women," she adds.
Across Europe, the number of women being attacked in swimming pools is on the rise.
Keywords: Swimming pool | Bikini | Girls | Migrants | Sweden