Paroubek said the police action was adequate, that the event was illegal and in his articles on the issue called techno music fans "dangerously obsessed persons inclining to anarchism" while at the same time pointing out that they could be spreading jaundice and AIDS. Let's not talk about the human values of such stands. The prime minister showed pure political dilettantism. Whether the police action was in line with the law and adequate will be subject to Justice Ministry investigation. However, the results are known already. The police have maybe taken the meadow but they don't dare act against techno worshippers at Prague's Strahov, who are making a lot more noise and for much longer. Interior Minister Frantisek Bublan says he's open to talks and assures that the police will not take any action against the protesters. It does take action though when somebody steals 60 rolls from a grocery. This would make a topic for a political cabaret. However, the impact is a serious one: The badly carried out police operation enforced not order but anarchy. Instead of winning credit, the police are being questioned. It has weakened the police's ability to fight events much more serious than a techno party. Paroubek's ill-considered support for the badly timed police operation amounts to admitting to responsibility for these mistakes. Now his only choice is to look for a retreat route, which is pretty much the same as sneaking through a police cordon, Komárek writes.

What the television showed was not a pretty sight — three or maybe four policemen were furiously beating a young man lying on the ground; sadly, this was no archive footage but pictures shot last weekend at the techno party, Jirí Franek writes in Právo Aug. 5.

Such a detail shifts in a new direction the debate on how justified the police operation against the party was. Even if there were no doubts that the police had to act, one still doesn't kick a man who's already down — and those who do so belong to places very different from an elite police unit. The young man could have been one of those throwing sticks, stones and bottles at the police. Perhaps he even injured one. However, not even in such cases should the police baton serve to settle personal scores. It is merely a working tool to pacify aggressive rioters or demonstrators, and that should only be done under exceptional circumstances and as prescribed. Policemen learn how to hit but not harm. A policeman, too, can lose his nerves after being hit by a stone, but just an individual, not an entire group so driven by anger they've obviously had no time to consider the consequences. If this is professional police work then Primda [which contains the party site, Mly´nec] probably isn't located in Europe. It is quite hard, but I would still like to believe that this was the only incident of its kind. The police leadership may provide us with lots of different footage in which nobody is beaten by policemen. However, if they want to keep what's left of the public's confidence, the police will have to make one more swift operation — within their own ranks, Franek writes.