Czech protest against US military radar site enters third week
From Louise's blog on the Greenpeace UK site:
A group of Czech Greenpeace activists are set to begin their third week occupying the site of a proposed US 'Son of Star Wars' base in the Czech republic. About 20 Greenpeace activists broke into the Brdy military zone south of Prague on April 28th. After establishing a base camp in nearby woods, they entered a wooded area inside the military installation and hung a 60 ft banner carrying the message "We don't want to be targets" across a series of tree-platforms.The US want to build an X band radar at Brdy - like the one the Labour government controversially gave go ahead for at Fylingdales in Yorkshire - as part of the European end of their proposed 'Son of Star Wars' missile defence system.
The plans have sparked major opposition in the Czech Republic - where polls have repeatedly shown that more than six out of 10 Czechs oppose hosting the US facility. The Greenpeace occupation is one of a whole series of protests against the plans over recent weeks and months.
Despite this opposition the Czech and US governments still appear to be closing on a deal to place the radar base in Czech territory, although the last minute cancellation of the signing ceremony by US Secretary of State Condoleza Rice earlier this week have raised hopes of opponents.
If you can read Czech, all the latest updates are on the Greenpeace Czech Republic site. I've been able to puzzle a few words out. I bet "radaru" is radar, "aktivisté" is activist and "fotoblokada" (photo blockade) is where you can upload photos to support the protest. Pretty cool.
Also found a news story in English here or press release here. There's been a big protest in Prague as well.
Comments
We applaud the majority of Czechs who oppose this US radar base and the hunger strikers Jan Bednar and Jan Tamas. In solidarity with them I will start a hunger strike on May 27. I have informed the Czech, Polish and US embassies in Canberra.
Posted by: Gareth Smith | May 25, 2008 3:26 PM