Aggression at Rebellion outdoor (attacked for no reason)

Never posted before on reddit, but there's something I need to get off my chest:

I am noticing more and more aggression lately in the crowd. Mostly just small things like pushing, shoving, cursing at others. Yesterday it got even worse than that.

I was just walking through the crowd at the uptempo stage (respectfully keeping some distance, not shoving, waiting for the drops to be over before walking, like I try to always do). It wasn't crowded at all, it was almost at the back.

Suddenly a guy grabbed me from behind by my fanny pack (which I wear over the shoulder), lifted it a bit so that it was around my throat and started DRAGGING me through the sand by my throat... I couldn't breathe while he was doing that and literally saw my life flashing before my eyes. He dragged me about 8 meters like this, I have never been so scared in my life...

After that he let go and started screaming absolute gibberish at me, I walked away as fast as possible, was too confused to confront him and had no friends to help me at that moment. People were just standing by watching it happen, girls from his group just giggling awkwardly. I can't believe it... I should've gone to the security immediately but I was unable to think of that at that moment, was just completely out of it.

This music and these festivals are one of the only things in my life that give me a deep feeling of connection - with everyone around me AND the music itself. It gives me intense joy to just let it all out with everyone at the same time, no matter what you look like or how crazy you act.

This is the very opposite of connectedness. It made me feel like a target, scared to walk around and avoiding crowds. I am still speechless about this, could barely enjoy the festival afterwards and at some point I just left because I felt awful, confused and sad.

Still have a lot of pain in my throat when breathing, makes me think about it every second. Just so sad people act this way. In the years after covid it seems to get worse with every mainstream hard dance festival. Got drugged last year by some guy at Rebirth campsite, a friend got punched in the face by a stranger at defqon this year... This aggression and wickedness should NOT become normalised in the scene. It is NOT AT ALL what this music should be about (same goes for organisers like rebirth events that create water scarcity on purpose. Awful and dehumanising and possibly against the law - am no expert but gonna dig into it).

Love and kindness to all the dedicated souls here, let's try to learn these newcomers some respect by spreading positivity and good vibes ❤️