Stock image of fans at the Schlossgrabenfest music festival in Darmstadt

Eighteen women have said they were sexual assaulted at a music festival in Germany.

Three men from Pakistan aged between 28 and 31 have been arrested and police are still searching for three men who may also have been involved.

The attacks are similar to those reported in Cologne and other cities on New Year's Eve, when as many as 1,000 women were groped and robbed.

Police said three women reported being groped at the Schlossgrabenfest music festival in Darmstadt on Saturdaym saying they had been encircled then sexually harassed by a group of men.

By Tuesday, 15 more women had made complaints of being sexually assaulted in a similar manner at the festival.

The three men who have been arrested are asylum seekers from Pakistan. All have been charged with sexual assault charges.

Police have said the number of complaints could rise and are hunting for between two and three more men.

Many of the perpetrators were allegedly of North African or Arab descent and the assaults sparked a backlash against refugees throughout Europe.

Protests by anti-refugee groups swept the country following the New Year's Eve attacks and support for refugees in Europe fell.

Online Editors