Police in Nigeria say 15 people have been arrested following allegations of sexual assault at a community festival in the southern Delta state.
Videos circulated online showing young men openly attacking women who were on their own. The clips sparked widespread anger, leading to the hashtag #StopRapingWomen to trend on social media, and renewed calls for accountability over gender-based violence.
Delta state police have rejected claims circulating online that the Alue-Do festival in Ozoro was a "rape festival".
Local spokesperson Bright Edafe told Channels TV on Monday that
no formal report of rape had been made in connection with the festival.
The videos, taken during the Alue-Do fertility festival in the city of Ozoro, show groups of young men chasing, stripping, grabbing and assaulting women in public spaces, in some cases while people are filming.
The police spokesman described the scenes as "alarming, disgusting and embarrassing" and said they had arrested several suspects identified from the videos and transferred them to the state Criminal Investigation Department (CID).