The Japanese city of Hiroshima on Wednesday commemorated the victims of the atomic bombing 80 years ago, as global concerns over the threat of nuclear conflict grow.
At a ceremony marking the anniversary of the U.S. atomic bombing on August 6, 1945, Mayor Kazumi Matsui urged younger generations to continue the fight against nuclear weapons.
Matsui said that younger generations must understand that misguided decisions on military spending, national security, and nuclear weapons could lead to inhumane consequences.
At 8:15 am – the moment when the U.S. bomber Enola Gay dropped the first wartime atomic bomb, known as “Little Boy” – attendees observed a minute of silence.
Tens of thousands of Hiroshima residents were killed instantly.
Three days after the Hiroshima bombing, the U.S. dropped a second atomic bomb on Nagasaki.
Japan surrendered shortly after.
By the end of 1945, an estimated 140,000 people had died.
Last year, the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Nihon Hidankyō, a Japanese organisation representing survivors of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings, for its work towards a nuclear-free world.
UN Secretary General António Guterres warned in a statement that the risk of nuclear conflict is rising again.
The same weapons that devastated Hiroshima and Nagasaki, he said, are once again being used as tools of pressure.
