"Terror" in Prague, or. . .That time a bunch of idiots tried to ruin my vacation

If you're not familiar with the recent news from Prague, you may wish to refer to this New York Times Article for more details on this bizarre protest gone awry: 

A friend and I were leaving the Old Town square in search of a pub when we stopped to check our map, lest we take another of many wrong turns we'd gotten accustomed to while trying to find our way through the labyrinth of that city.

That's when I heard what sounded like an engine revving followed by a several loud *POP* sounds.  We were standing in front of the Astronomical Clock, which is one of the most visited attractions in the city and the most crowded part of the Old Town Square.  It's approximately 50m from the people in this picture.

It didn't sound like gunfire to me (because it wasn't) and didn't trigger any response, other than being mildly annoyed about the ruckus and distraction.

(This paragraph all takes place in about 1.5-2 seconds)
Then I saw several dozen people come screaming around the corner. Everyone was running like something was chasing them. Mothers and Fathers clutching their crying children, everyone with wide eyed panicked expressions on their face.  
The clock tower and adjoining building blocked my view of almost the entire square. I had no idea what these people could be running from, or what was about to follow them around the corner.
I remembered hearing people being interviewed after shootings recall how they mistook the gunfire for a car backfiring, people playing with firecrackers, or anything other than someone shooting people.  
I grabbed my friend, a fellow traveler I'd met the previous day, as his head was buried in the map, and said "Let's get out of here". 
"What's go. . .?", he asked
"I don't know, let's find out later" I said, still holding onto his arm.
 
I am an extremely curious person in just about every situation, and rarely leave a mystery uninvestigated.  I had no desire to find out what was happening at that moment. 
We rushed out of the square, fast enough to not be caught in the swarm of people, for about 2-3 blocks, taking a couple of turns onto smaller streets to avoid the rest of the crowd and any trouble they might be bringing with them.

Then we found our pub, and shared beers with a couple of other travelers who shared rumors about what happened. They were all much more gruesome than what actually transpired, thankfully.  I was unable to find any news that evening, and had resigned to not knowing what happened until I returned home, until my dad inquired about it today. 

He reminded me that my sister and I have had a history of choosing travel destinations shortly before, or in one case, during a disaster or political upheaval of some kind.  Turkey, Egypt, Nepal, Ukraine, etc. With that background, he said he was not at all surprised that I was there during a fake terrorist attack.

I have heard people say that in situations such as these, heroes run towards the fray.  I have over the years, like most young men have, conducted a flattering self-evaluation on what I would do in certain scenarios.  Though my military days are far behind me, I still consider myself a courageous person.  I figured even without a firearm or other soldiers around me, I'd still be capable of the feats of heroism worthy of a summer blockbuster.

Writing this account, I'm pondering if it was cowardly to run away from an unknown threat, when out of view there could have been people in need of help.  It's possible that if I'd seen the terrible fake beards, the person who looks like he's wearing an "Arab" Halloween costume, and a camel, that I would have responded appropriately, by holding my ground.
But I'm also considering that I might be more George Costanza than Jason Bourne.
Maybe it's my ego's self-defense mechanism, but at the moment I'm mostly grateful for the instinct of self-preservation that got my friend and I out of what we thought was harm's way. 

Most of all, I'm relieved this was just theater and no one was hurt.  The judgement of those participating and the city officials who approved it gives me real pause about who is running that city.

By the way, the rest of my time in Prague was amazing. It's a beautiful city, and you should definitely go there, if you're at all considering.  Just know that, like the rest of the planet's cities, it it's inhabited by people, and people have been known to occasionally do foolish things.