Two more rapes were reported in Oslo over the weekend, and a group formed to help prevent them is anxious to get to work. “We can’t wait any longer now,” one of its organizers told newspaper Dagsavisen.
Tone Tellevik Dahl of the Labour Party co-leads the city council committee and has taken the initiative to form the group that will examine the wave of rapes in Oslo, where they’re occurring and what can be done to make the city safer. Their work may include anything from improving lighting to clearing out vegetation along pedestrian paths.
One of the weekend rapes occurred in the park surround the Royal Palace. Police said a woman was walking alone through the park at around 3:30am when she was assaulted. Dahl acknowledged that it was late at night and in an area removed from both pedestrian and vehicular traffic, “but it’s a short-cut through town and incredibly sad if people can’t be safe there.”
The second rape reportedly occurred inside an apartment off Torggata downtown. The victim, age 17, was found naked outside the building by a passerby and taken to the local police station.
The rapes brought the total number this year up to 48, according to media compilations. Police launched full investigations into each and already had a suspect in custody in the Torggata case, a 24-year-old man from Lithuania.
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