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CzechTek
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CzechTek was an annual teknival normally held on the weekend at the end of July in the Czech Republic. It attracted thousands of free tekno dancers from several European countries (40,000 people attended in 2003 and 2006). Open invitations were usually made to all soundsystems, performers and all human beings with positive thinking.
The first CzechTek was in 1994 at Hostomice.
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Encyclopedia
CzechTek was an annual teknival normally held on the weekend at the end of July in the Czech Republic. It attracted thousands of free tekno dancers from several European countries (40,000 people attended in 2003 and 2006). Open invitations were usually made to all soundsystems, performers and all human beings with positive thinking.
The first CzechTek was in 1994 at Hostomice. Every year the festival was being held in different locations around the Czech Republic on the same date. The festival was not the same as more commercial festivals such as the Love Parade or the Street Parade. It was usually set on ex-military land or in a meadow near the forest. There was little or no organisation, since the idea of free tekno is based on personal freedom and responsibility, although later teknivals required organization due to large number of attendees. The style (or image) of the people was also different (from that the Love Parade's participants) - it was more underground. The location of the meeting was always revealed one day before the action on Czech rave websites.
The Czech media highly publicized the last two technivals of 2005 and 2006, which largely added to it's demise since media it attracted many people that did not understand free tekno culture .
History
| Date | Location | Number of people |
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| 28 July – ? 1994 | Hostomice pod Brdy | legal | 300 | | 26 July - ? 1995 | Hostomice pod Brdy | legal | 300 | | 26 – 28 July 1996 | Hostomice pod Brdy | legal | 1.500 | | 25 – 27 July 1997 | Stará Hut near Dobríš | legal | 5.000 | | 30 July – 4 August 1998 | Stará Hut near Dobríš | legal | 5.000 | | 30 July - 4 August 1999 | Hradcany nad Ploucnicí near Ralsko | illegal | 5.000 | | 28 July – 2 August 2000 | Lipnice near Trebon | illegal | 10.000 | | 27 – 30 July 2001 | Doksy | illegal | 10.000 | | 26 – 31 July 2002 | Andelka near Višnová | legal | 20.000 | | 25 July - 3 August 2003 | Letkov near Kopidlno | legal | 40.000 | | 30 July – 3 August 2004 | Bonenov near Chodová Planá | illegal | 20.000 | | 29 - 31 July 2005 | Mlýnec pod Primdou | legal* | 5.000 | | 27 – 30 July 2006 | Military Area Hradište | legal | 40.000 |
CzechTek 2005
In 2005 the CzechTek festival was broken up by around 1,000 riot police using tear gas and water cannons. Police brought the BVP vehicle as well one collector of army vehicles arrived with his own one to see the other's response. This action left around 30 dancers and 50 police officers injured and caused protests outside the Czech interior ministry. In addition, a raver was run over and killed. The Prime Minister, Jirí Paroubek, defended the action, stating that the techno fans were "not dancing children but dangerous people" . Opposition parties and media took this event as opportunity to condemn the government.
After few weeks the protests and media attention fizzled out. Several months later all charges against police were dropped. In April 2006, there was a march followed by a free party in Strasbourg, France to protest against police repression generally and more specifically against the actions of the Czech police in closing CzechTek.
CzechTek 2006
In 2006, the festival was held on land which was part of the Hradište Military Region. On 14 June 2006 an agreement was signed between the Ministry of Defence and the Association of Czech Sound Systems . It took place without any repeat of the previous year's violence.
See also
* Teknival
External links
CzechTek 2005
- Police and protests (English, Czech)
- Czechtek 2005 & Police intervention (Czech)
- Events after Police intervention (English, Czech)
- Photos of Czechtek 2005
- Protest in Strasbourg 2006
Articles:
, by Matt Reynolds, 3.8.2005, The Prague Post
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