Rainbow Serpent Festival marred by sexual assaults, drugs
TWO people were sexually assaulted and dozens of drug drivers nabbed at Rainbow Serpent Festival near Ballarat, with police officers slamming the “unacceptable” behaviour of revellers.
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TWO people were sexually assaulted at a music festival near Ballarat at the weekend.
Police have expressed disappointment about crowd behaviour at Rainbow Serpent Festival in the past following two deaths and increased concern over the amount of drug use.
They said they were again left disappointed this year.
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Among those arrested at the five-day event at Lexton were five people allegedly caught with drugs and another who was allegedly dealing at the festival.
Alarmingly, 44 drivers were caught with drugs in their system and one motorist was drunk.
Victoria Police said it maintained a strong presence at the event, adding officers from local police, Highway Patrol and the Operations Response Unit had worked “around the clock to keep people safe”.
Acting Superintendent Graham Banks said it was concerning to see so many people making dangerous choices at the festival, despite repeated warnings from police.
“Every year police deal with serious crimes such as sexual assaults and drug trafficking at this event,” he said.
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“We also saw far too many people making dangerous and illegal choices by getting behind the wheel when they were either drug or alcohol affected.
“This kind of behaviour puts the whole community at risk and is completely unacceptable.
“We have zero tolerance for these individuals.
“Police were testing those leaving the festival to detect drug drivers and get them off the roads.