Forty-five of the injured were police officers, of whom five were seriously hurt, and 35 were people attending the CzechTek event in the village of Mlynec in the west of the country, close to the German border.

CzechTek organisers insisted that they had obtained the proper permission to stage the event, but, defending the action, police said the party-goers had damaged private property.

Police intervened just 20 minutes after the techno party started, reported CTK. Police set up blockades and closed off roads around the site to stop more people attending.

Czech television station TV Nova reported that people were refusing to leave the site and were planning to file criminal complaints against the government and the police for infringing on their human rights.

Around 1,000 of the 5,000 people who had attended the event were still on site early Sunday, CTK reported.

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