Security Tight in Prague as Czechs Ready for Obama.

[elleng]

Source: nyt/ap

PRAGUE (AP) -- Sharpshooters scouted out positions on Prague's red tile rooftops and police stepped up patrols across the Czech capital Saturday as authorities tightened security for President Barack Obama's weekend summit with leaders of European Union countries.

Officials planned to impose a no-fly zone over Prague starting at midday, and police increased their presence on Wenceslas Square and other popular tourist landmarks.

Obama arrived late Saturday. On Sunday, he will meet with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and other European leaders, and deliver a speech laying out a long-term goal to rid the world of nuclear weapons.

Obama also is expected to chat briefly with playwright and former president Vaclav Havel, who led the 1989 Velvet Revolution that peacefully toppled communism in the former Czechoslovakia.

Thousands of people planned a demonstration Sunday urging the U.S. and Czech governments to scrap plans to put part of a missile defense system outside Prague. Many Czechs oppose the plan and fear it would make their country a terrorist target.

Activists draped a banner over a bridge on the Vltava River that read: ''YES WE CAN ... '


Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/04/04/world/AP-EU-Czech-Obama.html

[Tangerine LaBamba]

1. These people are OUR PRESIDENT AND FIRST LADY!!!

Check out the Obamas arriving in Prague:



http://www.mrs-o.org/?p=5070

[elleng]

2. Thanks, Tange!

Been trying to keep up with them! They've HAD dinner! And now for basketball!

[Sultana]

5. Gorgeous

Michelle is my idol, I wanna be like her when I grow up. :D

[annabanana]

3. Oh Powers & Spirits that be...

Keep them safe.

[elleng]

4. Yes

O8)

[iandhr]

6. Its nice to have a President

That does not embarrass us in front of the world

[globalvillage]

7. They are always holding hands.

How cute is that?

[elleng]

8. I don't know about 'cute;'

I'd call it 'lovely.'

[RedCloud]

9. Czech is this way? I would understand redneckville, but Czech?

Is he not being better received than W?

[elleng]

10. There are much different issues than with w.

Many in the Czech public oppose the proposition that we build a radar/nuc site in their territory. AND their government has just or will shortly collapse. Read the following for some ideas about the issues. Czechs are nothing like rednecks, but have been subjected over the years to grave problems.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/04/world/europe/04czech.html