PRAGUE, April 28 (Xinhua) -- Members of Greenpeace occupied on Monday the site in the Brdy military district southwest of the capital of Prague, where a U.S. missile Defense radar base is to be installed, the Czech news agency CTK reported.

    Some 20 people have put up tents to protest against the planned building of the radar base, some 90 km southwest of Prague.

    Greenpeace mountaineers climbed trees at the site to fix up a giant banner.

    The military district head Martin Brezovsky set 2:00 p.m. local time as a deadline for the activists to leave the site.

    "We won't meet the deadline," Greenpeace's Jan Freidinger said.

    Defense Ministry spokesman Andrej Cirtek said the protesters have committed an unlawful act.

    "The Defense Ministry has nothing against political meetings ifheld outside the military district," said Cirtek.

    Greenpeace anti-radar campaign head Martin Kloubek said he does not know how long the activists will stay on the planned radar site, situated near the Misov village.

    The protest is not violent, the participants have not chained themselves to trees, Kloubek said.

    The United States plans to build a radar base in the Brdy military district, along with an interceptor missile base in neighboring Poland.

    Some 70 percent of Czech citizens are opposed to the project.