Interior Minister defends police intervention at Czechtek:
Police - numbering more than a thousand and in full riot gear - resorted to using tear gas and water cannons against hundreds of partygoers on a meadow.
Many refused to leave the grounds and began throwing bottles. According to reports dozens suffered mostly minor injuries, with around twenty partygoers and five officers suffering more serious wounds requiring medical attention.
Despite the clash, the interior minister called the police intervention "necessary", though he said he regretted there had been injuries. Mr Bublan pointed out that officers decided to act following an assessment by a public prosecutor and an authorised expert at the scene, who backed earlier complaints by neighbouring landowners that visitors had damaged private property and broken the law. Police gave a half-hour advance warning before resorting to force to push attendees off the grounds. On the whole some 5,000 visitors attended the Czechtek festival before it was rolled up Saturday.
Police action comes under fire
Steps taken by police at Czechtek on Saturday have drawn criticism from at least one member of the opposition, right-of-centre Civic Democrat MP - and shadow Interior Minister - Ivan Langer. On Saturday Mr Langer accused police of bowing to political pressure from the Prime Minister's office, saying police had not learned from similar events in the past. But, the head of the Tachov region police, Jaromir Knize rejected the charge.
The Czech president, Vaclav Klaus, on holiday in the Alps, said the use of tear gas and water cannons was inexcusable. The protection of private property is one thing, he said, but the police ought to have taken more preventive measures rather than cracking down after the fact. A spokesman for the president said he would consider calling Prime Minister Paroubek and Interior Minister Bublan in for an explanation after Mr Klaus returns to Prague.
Meanwhile, on Sunday hundreds of young people gathered in front of the Interior Ministry in Prague to protest the police crackdown.
Possible hit-and-run near Czechtek
One partygoer was killed trying to reach festival grounds on Saturday after being struck by a motor vehicle - possibly a large truck. Police are trying to determine whether it was a clear hit-and-run, with the driver knowingly leaving the crime scene.
Kuvia "bileistä"
http://czechtek.muzika.cz/foto/
ja Prahassa järjetetystä mielenosoituksesta
http://czechtek.muzika.cz/foto/fotky050730mvcr.php