About 50,000 people attended a ceremony on Saturday, August 6, 2016, at Hiroshima’s Peace Park near the bomb’s epicenter, marking the 71st anniversary of the US nuclear bombing of Hiroshima that led to the end of World War.
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Hiroshima’s Mayor Kazumi Matsui referred to the last year’s speech of US President Barack Obama, who also called on the world powers to pursue the world without nuclear weapons.
Several groups in the US and around the world need our support to bring about the abolition of nuclear weapons that President Barack Obama proclaimed as his goal in Prague in 2009 when he said.
“On the 71st anniversary of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, we offer our apologies to the hibakusha who endured the immediate shock and subsequent torments of the destruction of their cities by the military forces of the United States on August 6th and August 9th, 1945”.
According to Voice of America, 50,000 people attended the ceremony near the epicenter of the bomb at Hiroshima’s Peace Park. The US atomic attacks killed 140,000 people in Hiroshima and more than 70,000 in Nagasaki, either instantly or later through the horrific effects of burns from the white-hot nuclear blast and radiation sickness.
The Lok Sabha on Friday paid homage to the victims of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombings in Japan in 1945.
“A nuclear weapon-free world would manifest the noble pacifism of the Japanese Constitution”, he said.
The names of 5,511 victims whose deaths were confirmed in the past year were added to the list at the cenotaph for atomic-bomb victims.
Those atomic bombings changed the world forever and ushered in the nuclear age.
“I am convinced Obama’s visit brought a great hope for people in Japan, in the world and in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, who believe in a world without nuclear arms”, he said.
It was the second-largest number of represented countries, after the 100 that marked the 70th anniversary past year.
During the ceremony, a message from U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki Moon was read out by his proxy, saying, “Today, the world needs the hibakusha spirit more than ever”, at a time when “global tensions are rising” and progress on nuclear disarmament is “hard to find”.
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The first use of nuclear weapons against humans annihilated Hiroshima, killing tens of thousands instantly. This policy would state that under no circumstances would the United States be the first country to use nuclear weapons. To coexist, instead of resorting to the inhumane threat posed by nuclear weapons, we must value person-to-person relationships, and build a world that allows forward-looking dialogue.
