No to Radar on Czech Soil

Jan Neoral is mayor of the mountainous Czech village Trokavec. He is furious about his government’s plans to install a gigantic radar station as part of a controversial US missile defense system in Central Europe.

“We will fight, fight and fight it. We will address our Czech leaders, the Parliament and so on. And we have already written to the US Congress and 92 broadcasting outlets in the entire world,” said Neoral at a press conference of the European Parliament in Brussels.

“Our government has not reacted. They are not of one mind with us. The Czech government doesn’t communicate with us, and when they do, it’s only through the media,” he said.

The main concern of Neoral and other inhabitants is health, and the dangerous effects of radiation on soft tissue, especially the eyes.

“We read on American Internet websites that the radiation emitted has a reach of up to 36 kilometers (22 miles),” added Neoral, who said that Trokavec lies almost that distance from Pilsen, the planned site of the installations. The German border is roughly 100 kilometers to the west.

Demonstrations in Prague have shown that many, if not most Czechs are opposed to the US missile defense shield, but President Vaclav Klaus and Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek favor installing part of the system on Czech soil.

Jan Neoral is making strong waves for his position, which have already impressed various EU parliamentarians. “I am waiting for the EU to say: this makes no sense. We don’t need a radar tracking system in Europe, and we don’t want it either,” he said.