Sexually harassed at Glitch Festival Malta — I’m appalled by how it was handled
EDIT: I realised I didn’t actually describe the harassment itself in my original post, which has led to some people making assumptions about what happened. I’ve added the details below for clarity.
For context, this is what actually happened: The man repeatedly followed me around the pool, came extremely close to me while making sexually suggestive facial expressions, and continued despite me repeatedly and explicitly telling him to “leave me alone,” “keep your distance,” and “respect my personal space.” Other festivalgoers witnessed what was happening, and at one point another couple positioned themselves between us and shouted at him that he was not to touch me. I became visibly distressed and was crying when I reported him to security immediately afterwards, while he was still there.
I’m posting this because I think people attending festivals deserve to know how incidents of sexual harassment are handled when something actually happens at this festival.
I attended Glitch Festival in Malta last week. On day one, I was sexually harassed by a man in the swimming pool, in front of other people.
What happened afterwards has honestly left me almost as disturbed as the incident itself.
Security did not witness what happened despite being responsible for monitoring the area. When the man was confronted, he simply acted as though he was just chilling there and didn’t understand what was going on. I was crying and visibly distressed, and also had witnesses who stood up for me. No action was taken by security. I ended up having to leave for my own safety, while the man got to continue chilling in the pool.
I reported the incident to Glitch afterwards and asked them to review the CCTV footage. I was then told that the footage was of poor quality / that the camera angle did not clearly capture what happened.
This raises a pretty obvious question: what is the purpose of CCTV and security at a large festival if neither can actually document or intervene when someone is sexually harassed in a public area?
I’m particularly disturbed by the fact that someone can behave like this at a festival and apparently face no meaningful consequences.
I have been in contact with Glitch about what happened, but I do not feel that the handling of the situation reflects the seriousness of the incident. I am now taking steps to report what happened to the Maltese police.
I’m sharing this publicly because I don’t want this to simply disappear into a private complaint.
Festivals promote themselves as safe, inclusive spaces. That has to mean more than having security guards and CCTV cameras physically present. There needs to be an effective system for protecting festival goers, responding to reports of sexual harassment and holding perpetrators accountable.
I also want other people who attended Glitch to know about this. If anyone witnessed the incident, experienced something similar at the festival, or has experience with how Glitch handles reports like this, I would really appreciate hearing from you.