Police disperse ravers (80 injured, one dead!)

[zwielicht]

CZECH police used water cannons and teargas to disperse an annual gathering of thousands of techno music fans known as the CzechTek party. About 5000 fans from the Czech Republic and other European countries had converged on a meadow in Mlynec, a village about 130km west of Prague, that was the venue for this year's festival of electronic dance music.

Yesterday afternoon, about 1000 riot police broke up the festival after complaints that revellers had illegally entered land outside the zone approved for the event, police spokeswoman Jolana Cihova said. A photographer saw police use water cannons and teargas against the crowd. Ms Cihova said the force was necessary to persuade revellers to leave the festival, that usually lasts a week.

Several people, including two police officers, were injured, Ms Cihova said. Police detained a French citizen who allegedly tried to hit officers with his car, she said. "There's chaos ... caused by the Czech Republic police," said festival goer Jiri Klestil. "CzechTek is not a Rolling Stones concert, where every detail is planned well ahead," Mr Klestil told Czech radio. "This is an action with thousands of people attending, who gather in a way that is difficult to grasp for the society."

Each year, the festival's location is kept secret until the last moment, when details are posted on the internet. Admission is free, and there are no limits on how many people can attend, with no tickets being issued and people camping overnight or sleeping in cars. (AP)

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,16108342-401,00.html





more sources:
http://www.news24.com/News24/World/News/0,,2-10-1462_1746577,00.html
http://www.indymedia.org/fr/2005/07/118313.shtml
http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.tschechien-online.org%2Fmodules.php%3Fname%3DNews%26file%3Darticle%26sid%3D976&langpair=de%7Cen

[Skip Intro]

1. Disgusting.

freedom is under attack

[psychopomp]

2. Baaad trip

n/t

[Rex]

3. So ungodly stupid.

Create a bigger problem by stomping on a small one! :eyes:

Citizen complains about problem, gummit comes in and makes a bigger disturbance which ultimately costs more to clean up. Citizen now complains about the gummit.

Idiots.

[wli]

4. freedom on the goose-step (a.k.a. "march")

I guess even dancing to techno music (or whatever they were doing) is an act of terrorism these days.

[zwielicht]

5. shamless kick with a few photos

videos of the attack: http://g4.avu.cz/czechtek2005/

[peacebuzzard]

6. Your last photo is amazing.

:kick:

[WhiteTara]

7. thanks for the photos and welcome

to DU zwielicht. Glad you are here to share your photos. :hi:

[zwielicht]

11. thanks!

:hi:

credit for #2-4 goes to wako, the last one (is she carrying a baby?) is by AFP, and i couldn't resist posting some more by techno.cz:

[PunkPop]

10. Looks like a good party

Until the stormtroopers moved in.

[bennywhale]

8. When society doesn't understand something it is scaredx of it and attacks

it.

this happened in Britain in the early 90s. Newspaper reports of devil worshipping and sacrifice, and we were like "noe we are dancing to music".

It is now perversely against the law in Britain to "dance in an open space in a group of more than 10 to music with a repetitive beat"

Bastards

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

9. Oh, this is a wonderful idea.

Get several thousand people who are probably off their heads on LSD or MDMA, and make them get in their cars and DRIVE HOME.

[progressivebydesign]

12. A victim of its own success meets the fascists.

Bad combo. The festival, by its nature, was a disaster waiting to happen. No tickets, no controls, no organization? Tragedy waiting to happen. The police, for their part, freaked and overreacted. They couldnt' look more frightening and menacing. Obviously they came to crack some heads... unbelievable.