Germany's families minister has called for better protection for fans at concerts following a wave of sexual assault claims against the frontman of veteran rock band Rammstein.
Several women have recently accused Till Lindemann, 60, of grooming and sexually assaulting them at after-show parties, according to German media reports.
The Olympiapark in Munich, where Rammstein are due to play four gigs this week, said on Tuesday all after-show parties for the concerts had been cancelled.
"Young people in particular must be better protected from assault," Families Minister Lisa Paus told AFP.
Paus called for protected areas for women at concerts and the use of so-called awareness teams to deal with suspected sexual assaults.
She also called for the abolition of Rammstein's "Row Zero" system, which offers a VIP concert experience to a select group of fans, including the chance to stand right in front of the stage and access to an after-show party.
New protective measures must be discussed "quickly and concretely", Paus said, calling for "a serious debate about the responsibility of artists and promoters towards their fans".
A spokesman for the Olympiapark told AFP there would be no Row Zero at Rammstein's Munich concerts.
The dates are part of a European tour, with the band also due to play in Berlin in July.
The scandal erupted after a young Irish woman posted on social media that she had been drugged and propositioned by Lindemann at a backstage party in Vilnius.
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Several other women have since come forward with allegations of grooming and sexual assault at Rammstein concerts.
A poll published Tuesday by the German daily Bild said a majority of people want the group's remaining European tour gigs to be cancelled until the allegations are addressed.
Bild also reported that hundreds of fans were trying to sell their tickets for the Munich concerts on online ticketing platform Eventim.
The band has denied the claims.
"The accusations have hit us all very hard, and we take them extremely seriously," it wrote in a statement posted on Instagram.
"It is important to us that (fans) feel comfortable and safe at our shows -- in front of and behind the stage," the statement said.
But German newspaper Die Welt reported on Tuesday that Alena Makeeva, a Russian woman accused of recruiting young women to engage in sexual practices with Lindemann, had been banned from all further Rammstein concerts.
Makeeva called herself Rammstein's "casting director" and had been working for the band since 2019, according to Die Welt.
The band has also hired a Berlin-based PR agency specialised in crisis management to help with the fallout from the scandal, the newspaper reported.
Together with the agency, the band has also hired a law firm to investigate the allegations, it said, with the first findings expected on Friday.
Rammstein, an industrial metal band founded in 1994, is known for grinding guitar riffs, taboo-breaking antics, and theatrical stage shows heavy on pyrotechnics.
Their songs have dealt with subjects from cannibalism to necrophilia, and the band name itself evokes the 1988 Ramstein air show disaster that killed 70 people and injured more than 1,000.
