Over 100 delegates from 16 European countries, 86 Czech mayors
and activists from international peace organizations opposed the
planned US radar on Czech soil at an international conference in
Breznice, Central Bohemia of the Czech Republic on Saturday.
The representatives were backed by a video greeting by Mayor of
Hiroshima Tadatoshi Akiba and Mayor of London Ken Livingston, the
Czech news agency CTK reported.
Livingston wrote that he strongly supported the campaign against
the base.
Czechs should have the right to decide on what would be
stationed on their soil, organizers read from his letter.
Akiba sent a video greeting in the similar spirit.
Jan Neoral, Mayor of Trokavec, situated two kilometers from the
planned base, said that the radar is provoking arms races.
"Although local referendums were against the radar with a
crushing majority, the government still dares to ignore this,"
Neoral said.
Pol D'Huyvetter, chairman of the coalition Mayors for Peace,
said the radar was a problem of the whole world, not only of the
Czech Republic.
Jan Tamas, spokesman for the group No to Bases that sharply
opposed the US base, said that he was glad so many foreign guests
had come to the conference.
"One can see that this is not only a problem of the Czech
Republic. We are glad that we are known abroad and we would be even
happier if history textbooks mentioned the meeting one day," he
added.
The US wants to deploy ground-based interceptor missiles in
Poland and a radar station in the Czech Republic as part of its
missile defense shield. But Russia strongly opposes the plan,
saying it poses a threat to the security of the country.
The Czech Republic and Poland are in talks with the US on the
missile defense plans.
A new round of talks on building a radar base in the Czech
Republic will start in late October. The negotiations are expected
to be concluded early next year.
A recent opinion poll showed more than two-thirds of Czech
citizens oppose the establishment of the base.
(Xinhua News Agency October 21, 2007)
