Several opposition protests against the exercise were organized by a coalition of civil society groups prior to the unit's passage through the Czech Republic, including the No to Bases group, the Movement for Direct Democracy, Stop Church Restitution, the Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia, and others. The opponents were, however, largely outnumbered by supporters of the march, despite contradictory reports on Kremlin-financed news websites and other media, and despite the pro-Russian stance of the Czech president, Miloš Zeman. However, president Zeman criticised the description of the convoy as "occupation forces, because We have experiences with occupations and it looks different." According to an article published by Newsweek, the exercise met with a "mixed response" in the Czech Republic. Several hundred people, both supporters and opponents of the "dragoon march," assembled in Wenceslas Square on March 28. Later that day, the conservative group National Democracy picketed the US embassy in Prague, opposing what it described as the "American invaders". After the arrival of the convoy to Prague-Ruzyně on 30 March 2015, the commander Tim Payment said in an interview for the Czech News Agency that "... received unbelievable support everywhere they stopped over.", the head of the group Friends of Russia, a former senator for the Czech Social Democratic Party, and one of the main organizers of protests against the convoy, was one of the few people who attended the demonstration at Ruzyně barracks on 30 March 2015, and left after being verbally attacked by the supporters of the convoy. More than 20,000 people visited Ruzyně barracks during the convoy's stay, while a small group of protesters attended the demonstration in front of the US Embassy. Tomáš Vandas, chairman of the far-rightWorkers' Party of Social Justice, spoke during the protest at the embassy. 82% of Czechs approved of the NATO convoy, according to an opinion poll by the agency. Russian state-sponsored media such as Russia Today reported the story by focusing on protests against the convoy. The Czech Prime MinisterBohuslav Sobotka visited the convoy in Prague on 31 March 2015, with Martin Stropnický, the Minister of Defense, and Karel Schwarzenberg, a former Czech presidential candidate. Both Sobotka and Petr Pavel, described reports of the "divided nation" as a "media fiction".
