Prague police raid secret party with over 100 guests in city center

Despite a night curfew of 11:00 p.m. and a ban on gatherings of more than six people due to the current COVID-19 epidemic, police in Prague's city center raided a secret party with 119 guests last night at around midnight, according to police reports.

The party was reportedly organized via social media, and more than 100 of the 119 people there were foreigners.

"Before midnight, based on the findings of criminal investigators of the first police district, we intervened with an illegally-opened company in the center of Prague on Anenská Street, in which several dozen guests had fun," Prague Police Captain Jan Danek stated on the police website.

Because the venue operators refused to open the entrance, police used a battering ram to enter the location, as seen in video published to social media:

"As the company was closed and no one responded to the calls, it had to be forcibly entered. When the police got into the basement, they found that there were 119 people there who were participating in some kind of illegal party," Danek states.

"The police identified each of these people, and found that there were 102 foreigners and 17 Czechs. Among them were eight people who we believe were the organizers of the event, and they ended up [detained] at the police station to explain the situation."

According to local tabloid Blesk, the party was organized on social media through the now-deleted Facebook and Instagram pages PasswordPrague.

People were reportedly invited to come to Anenské náměstí and given a password. After 10:00 p.m., organizers located people in possession of the password and led them to the bar on nearby Anenská street.

The party was intended to run until 4:00 a.m. before being broken up by police, who knew of the event in advance.

According to one of the guests, who was interviewed by Blesk, the party was mostly made up of students, many of whom were under the age of 18. Similar parties have previously taken place during the lockdown.

"I've been going to parties in Prague for about two weeks now," said one woman, identified as a French-speaking Erasmus student.

"No one had a face mask. It's an illegal party, so we don't wear face masks there. I've been through the COVID, so I'm not afraid." When asked to give her name, she refused out of fear that she would be banned from upcoming events.

"Don't be silly, if I tell you my name, they won't let me come to the party next time."