Greenpeace blocking military area

The government is currently preparing to sign the radar agreement and submit it to the Czech Parliament. It is never too late to show our politicians that we refuse the American radar and don’t want it to be built in Brdy. We ask all who disagree with the construction of the radar to come and join the blockade.

“Military experts agree that in case of conflict, the radar will be the first target to be attacked,” said antimissile expert and previous US Defense Secretary Philip Coyle [1] , during his last visit to Prague in mid-January this year.

The Czech government did not convince the locals of why it plans to build the system, which is dysfunctional in realistic conditions and brings along many risks, including the fact that the host countries are undertaking the risk of being exposed to possible military attack. “It’s the reason why we chose the target sign. It also symbolizes our common goal with most of the Czech population: no radar, nor antimissile systems in the Czech Republic,” said head of the radar Greenpeace campaign, Jan Freidinger.

Greenpeace believes the US military bases that are part of the missile shield in central European countries, are a step away from shaking the stability of international relations, triggering yet another arms race. Security experts agree that the more military shields are developed, the more weapons need to be built in order to overcome them. The intense growth of modern defense systems encourages manufacturers to further increase the construction of attack weapons.

Activists built a camp under the fabric banner and set up a wooden carved totem symbolizing liberty. At the same time, Greenpeace engineered an internet campaign on www.fotoblokada.cz, where people can send their photographs together with a personal message [2]. Live coverage of blockade is on www.greenpeace.cz.

Notes for editors:
[1] http://www.greenpeace.org/czech/protiraketova-obrana/philip-coyle
[2] New website as a ON-LINE aktivity www.fotoblokada.cz

Contacts:

Jan Freidinger, head of Greenpeace radar project
tel.: 608 729 071, e-mail: jan.freidinger@cz.greenpeace.org
Jan Piňos, Greenpeace Campaign Director
tel.: 720 552 888, e-mail: jan.pinos@cz.greenpeace.org
Martin Kloubek, Greenpeace political advisor
tel.: 774 292 474, e-mail: martin.kloubek@cz.greenpeace.org
Lenka Boráková, Greenpeace Press Officer
tel.: 603 443 140, e-mail: lenka.borakova@cz.greenpeace.org