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Rallies draw crowds, police

Marchers demand radar vote

By Benjamin Thomas Cunningham
Staff Writer, The Prague Post
November 21st, 2007 issue

Photos by SIMON CHANG
Police estimate 2,000 people gathered on Wenceslas Square Nov. 17 to protest the government's stance on the proposed U.S. radar base.
Photo by Simon Chang
The group No to Bases organized the rally, featuring slogans like, "We don't want it, thanks!" on the 18th anniversary of the revolution.
Hundreds of protesters gathered on Wenceslas Square Nov. 17, holding signs and waving flags to speak out against the government’s plans to build a U.S. radar base on Czech soil.
No to Bases, the group that organized the event, is calling for a nationwide referendum on the radar base, says spokesman Jan Tamáš.
A crowd of about 2,000, according to police estimates, chanted slogans such as “Referendum” before marching from the square to Národní street around 6 p.m., where trams backed up, waiting for the protesters to pass.
As the date for its rally, No to Bases had chosen the 18th anniversary of the student-led Velvet Revolution and the “spirit of democracy” associated with it as a way of criticizing the government’s position against a public referendum on the radar base issue. Not surprisingly, the march route included a stop at the Národní street memorial that honors students who were beaten by police Nov. 17, 1989. Scores of people had already gathered there to light candles commemorating the national Day of Struggle for Freedom and Democracy.
No to Bases organizer Tamáš, who estimated the crowd of protesters at about 5,000 people, said he felt good about how many turned up for the day’s event, “given the weather.” He pointed to the broad base of support his group received from trade unions and from a newly formed mayors’ group that is also against the radar base plans.
“It was small, but it was a success,” Tamáš said.
The Security Union, a group including police and firefighters, was among participants in the No to Bases rally because, according to spokesman Martin Zapletal, members believe in democracy and democratic values.
“I’m glad that so many people came to the event,” Zapletal said.
Earlier that day, another protest was staged reportedly in the name of democracy on Paleckého square, where about 100 extremists affiliated with the Autonomous Nationalists gathered, displaying a coffin to symbolize the death of free speech and democracy. The group was protesting the Nov. 10 actions of Prague authorities and police, who prevented a march of neo-Nazis through the city’s Jewish quarter.

Benjamin Thomas Cunningham can be reached at bcunningham@praguepost.com


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