Czech Republic names street after Ronald Reagan

The Czech Republic Friday renamed a street in its capital Prague after former US president Ronald Reagan, highly regarded in the region for having helped hasten the demise of communism. Former US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice attended the ceremony, held to mark the 100th anniversary of Reagan's birth. "Ronald Reagan was remarkable because he believed in the freedom so deeply, but he was even more remarkable because he believed that what ought to be had to be and so he acted on this policy," Rice said at the televised ceremony. Republican Reagan, who was president from 1981 to 1989, is celebrated in former Soviet satellite states for a tough line credited with having pushed the Kremlin to the wall. Czech Environment Minister Tomas Chalupa said Reagan's stance struck a chord in his country, whose 1989 Velvet Revolution became a symbol of the peaceful overthrow of the region's regimes. "He beat communism using means that are dear to we Czechs. He decided to go against the grain and tell the truth," Chalupa said at the ceremony. Reagan died in 2004. He is the fourth US president to have a street named after him in Prague, after independence leader George Washington, head of state from 1789 to 1797, Woodrow Wilson (1913-1921) and Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1933-1945). Ronald Reagan Street, near the US ambassador's residence in Prague, replaces part of a longer road named after Czech writer and historian Zikmund Winter (1846-1912). Rice's presence was met by protests from a small, vocal group of demonstrators. "Democracy is great but sometimes it's noisy," she said. On Wednesday, Rice attended a ceremony in Budapest, capital of ex-communist Hungary, where a statue of Reagan was unveiled. A bust of Reagan was already erected in a Budapest park in 2006.