The popular Hove music festival in Arendal, on Norway’s southern coast, had its share of disharmony this week. It’s been marred by drug busts, an alleged rape and a fatality backstage.
Police said they was no indication of foul play or an accident in the death of a man who suddenly collapsed and died while checking security equipment on one of the stages at the music festival. Witnesses said he collapsed on the stage before a performance, of probable medical causes.
Meanwhile, a young woman brought to a local hospital Wednesday night was initially believed to have been raped at the festival. Police later said they had no evidence of assault, that the woman refused to be examined or questioned and hadn’t filed any formal complaint. “When she doesn’t want to contribute any information, there’s not much more we can do,” Ingrid Thorsen of the Agder Police District told Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK).
Police, meanwhile, have arrested 30 persons at the festival for possession of narcotics. Most of the seizures involved what police called “cannabis products” in small quantities, with specially trained police dogs sniffing out the drugs.
Festival organizers have sold around 52,000 tickets to the Hove festival, which runs through Friday.
newsinenglish.no staff
