The UK’s Green MEPs will speak out this week in support of Czech hunger strikers who are opposing a planned US Missile Defence radar near Prague, as part of a Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament protest taking place on 22 June.
Jean Lambert, the Green Party MEP for London, will address the CND vigil of solidarity in support of the Czech protesters. The event will be taking place opposite Downing Street on Sunday, which has been declared an international day of action, with speakers from 12-2pm.
Dr Caroline Lucas, Green MEP for South East England and a longstanding member of the CND national council, will take part in the hunger strike in support of the day of action.
In Prague, a number of leading political and cultural figures have already gone on hunger strike to protest against the Czech government’s continuing negotiations with the US to build a Missile Defence radar near the city.
Jean Lambert MEP, a long-standing CND supporter, said:
"This an issue that matters to all of Europe and the European Parliament has made its opposition clear in a recent resolution against missile defence.Opinion polls also show there is majority opposition to the system.
"The UK Government has already made our country more vulnerable to attack by approving sites for the US Missile Defence system without any parliamentary debate. If this system continues to develop we risk escalating the arms race, which the world cannot afford.
"The missile defence system is based on the fallacy that it will make the world safer, but in fact it will leave all countries open to more concerted attacks. It will simply intensify divisions between nations and the Czech Republic should oppose its development. Such a decision could force the new US administration to retract its proposal."
Dr Caroline Lucas commented:
"I am participating in Sunday’s hunger strike in solidarity with the Green Party in the Czech Republic, together with the vast majority of Czech people who oppose plans to appropriate their land for a US missile defence system radar.
"The US continues to site almost 500 nuclear weapons around the EU despite huge condemnation from European citizens. The US is breaching international law and we must not allow Europe to be complicit in this blatant proliferation of missile capacity.
"The protest on Sunday will send a clear message from the UK, the Czech Republic and beyond that we want independence from America’s military bases and the illegal nuclear weapons of mass destruction they contain. Conflict prevention and resolution will make the world safer – more bombs will not. We call on the Czech Parliament to reject the US’s proposals and on the EU as a whole to join us in standing up for peace."