Eight Czech towns reject US radar, one referendum invalid (Roundup)

Jun 9, 2007, 18:23 GMT

Prague - Just days after US President George W Bush visited Prague to back the US missile shield plans in Central Europe, eight municipalities rejected the US radar to be built in their vicinity on Saturday, while one local poll was invalid due to low turnout.

The local referendum was invalid in Rozmital pod Tremsinem, a town of 4,360, as 47.17 per cent. Less than a required half of town's 3,636 eligible voters, took part in the poll, mayor Josef Vondrasek said. He said 1,620 of 1,715 voters, had rejected the US facility.

The disappointed mayor blamed the low turnout on resignation among the residents.

'A number of people think that it has been already decided and that (a local referendum) is pointless,' he said.

Eight other villages near a military zone, where the United States would like to place a radar for its missile shield, rejected the US plan.

The results of the local referenda, which do not oblige politicians in Prague, only bind municipal councils to try and halt the US facility from being erected in their vicinity.

'The government has already said that it does not mean anything to them,' said Vaclav Koubik, the mayor of Hurky, where all but three of 115 voters, who participated in the poll, opposed the US base. 'But it means a lot to our residents. They know that they have done maximum for their security.'

The string of polls took place just days after Bush visited Prague to back the US missile defence plans in Europe. The mayors of the towns holding the referenda Saturday said his visit had done little to curb their opposition to the radar base.

'It has not changed our opinion,' said Vaclav Hudec, the mayor of a tiny village of Stitov, where 33 out of 38 voters rejected the US radar base on Saturday. 'The opposition to the radar is still here.'

According to an opinion poll by STEM agency for Czech Television published Wednesday, 53 per cent of 648 Czechs polled said that Bush did not succeed in swaying Czechs in favour of the radar on Tuesday, while 27 per cent said the opposite.

Sixty-seven per cent of those polled opposed the base, while 33 per cent supported it, the opinion poll said.

The United States has entered into bilateral talks with the Czech Republic and Poland to place a tracking radar and 10 interceptor missiles on their respective territories.

Ten municipalities near picturesque Brdy military zone, one hour south-west of Prague, whose pristine forests the locals enjoy strolling through in search of mushrooms and berries, have rejected the US facility in local referenda or opinion polls prior to the referenda held on Saturday.

The villagers fear radiation emitted by the facility could harm their health and the enviornment, a claim disputed by the US and Czech officials.

They also worry the deployment would limit their access to the sprawling woods, lower the value of property and even force them to leave their homes.

The locals also fear the radar would turn their peaceful corner into a terrorist or military target. 'If it were built here, we would be threatened more than we are now. The radar is the eyes of the enemy,' Hudec said.

The US missile defence plans in Europe have infuriated Russia, whose President Vladimir Putin offered his US counterpart Thursday to share a radar base in Azerbaijan.

Mayor Hudec said that the offer has given the local residents hope 'that it will not be here in the end'.

'This is the hour of truth,' said the most vocal among the area's mayors opposing the radar base, Jan Neoral of Trokavec, the first village to hold the local vote in March.

'If Bush is sincere he has to accept it. If not, (the US reasoning for bases in Central Europe) was a lie and they had other reasons for placing it here we are not even aware of.'