Residents of a Czech village have voted against hosting a US anti-missile radar station, fearing it will make the village a military target, amid a gathering of anti-war protesters in the nation's capital.
Only one person in Trokavec was in favour of the US plan, in voting on Saturday, while 71 residents rejected the radar station.
Sixteen other eligible voters did not take part in the poll.
The website of the daily Mlada Fronta Dnes quoted Jan Neoral, Trokavec's mayor, as saying that the vote "is a clear signal to the government that it should not negotiate with the US" over the radar station.
The village of Trokavec organised the vote to show the strength of the villagers' opposition to the project, part of a US-proposed missile defence shield, which Czech and US officials are currently discussing.
But the vote was symbolic and holds no legal power.
The result of the informal vote reflects growing opposition in the Czech Republic to the planned missile shield.
Recent polls have show that nearly two-thirds of Czechs oppose the plan, which the US says is needed to defend against possible missile attacks by "rogue nations" such as Iran or North Korea.
Poland is also being asked to host missile batteries which form part of the system.
Meanwhile, in Prague, several hundred demonstrators gathered on Saturday evening in the city's Old Town square, many carrying torches, to protest against the Iraq war and the proposed anti-missile radar base.