Czech mayors protest missile shield plans

PRAGUE, Czech Republic, Dec. 1 (UPI) -- Forty mayors from the Czech Republic say they will complain to the European Parliament about plans to site missile defense shield components in the country.

The mayors say they're against an agreement signed between the Czech Republic and the United States to place a radar station in the country, part of a planned anti-missile missile system that U.S. officials contend is meant to protect Europe against "rogue states" such as Iran, RIA Novosti reported Monday.

The mayors are from communities nearby the Brdy military base, about 55 miles southwest of Prague, where the radar would be built, the news agency said. The mayors earlier sent a letter to U.S. President-elect Barack Obama urging him to abandon the Bush administration's missile defense plans for the Czech Republic.

"We are heading to Brussels (in February) to complain against our government, because it is planning to place a radar in the middle of Europe, which affects other European countries as well," the CTK news agency quoted Jan Neoral, mayor of Trokavec, as saying.