‘Tanks? No thanks!’: Czechs unhappy about US military convoy crossing country

‘Tanks? No thanks!’: Czechs unhappy about US military convoy crossing country

Published time: March 22, 2015 23:27
Edited time: March 23, 2015 08:50 Get short URL

Czech anti-war activists have launched the ‘Tanks? No thanks!’ campaign to protest the procession of US Army hardware through the Eastern European country. They say it has been turned into a “provocative victory parade” near the Russian border.

The American military vehicles, which took part in NATO drills in Poland, Lithuania and Estonia, plan to cross the territory of the Czech Republic between March 29 and April 1 on their way to a base in the German city of Vilseck.

The exercise, entitled the ‘Dragoon Ride,’ will involve over a hundred Stryker vehicles, which the US is expected to station in Europe, and will see the convoy stop in a new city every night. Last week, it was authorized by the Czech government, without any debate in the parliament, Pressenza news agency reported.

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The US procession has been labeled “an unnecessary and dangerously provocative military maneuvers, which only increase international tension” on the ‘Tanks? No thanks!’ page on Facebook.

The campaigners believe that a simple relocation of vehicles has been turned into “a victory parade” as the US convoy is expected to “organize activities to impress local residents with their military power.”

“The last time that vehicles like this came to the Czech Republic, they were Soviet tanks coming to crush moves towards democracy in 1968. We don’t want such vehicles from foreign armies coming here ever again,” Tana Bednarova from the ‘World without Wars and without Violence’ organization, which supports the campaign, said.

Post by Tanksnothanks.

Bednarova has also slammed the expansion of NATO to the east, saying that if the US and its allies really “wants to create security in the world then Russia and China and all other countries of the world should be invited to join.”

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[link to rt.com]