On Tuesday 8.7.2008, several thousands of Czechs gathered on Wenceslav Square in Prague to demonstrate against the governmental signature of the main treaty on American radar base.


People of all age and from all parts of the country participated on the protest, among them Jan Kavan, former minister of foreign affairs of the Czech Republic and president of the fifty-seventh session of the United Nations General Assembly.

The spokespersons of the No to Bases initiative Jan Tamáš and Jan Májíček, the mayor of Trokavec (village nearby the radar should be built) Jan Neoral and former political prisoner of cummunist regime, Charter 77 activist and journalist Petr Uhl appeared successively on the stage with their speeches.

Then, the protestors marched to Hrzan's palace, where the US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had a dinner with Czech prime minister Topolanek. However, the procession was stopped by police in front of the palace.

The spokespersons of the No to Bases initiative Jan Tamáš and Ivona Novomestská unsuccessfully tried to deliver Ms Rice a letter with the message that majority of Czechs continuously refuse the planned radar facility. Meeting with US Secretary of State was denied even to the chairman of Czech parliament Miroslav Vlček, who belongs to opposition Social Democratic party.

After her visit to Czech republic, Condoleezza Rice is going to Bulgaria, another poor postcommunist country where new US military installation should arise and then to Georgia, territory often mentioned as a possible place for another US missile defense (forward based) radar.