Hiroshima Mayor Urges World Leaders to Work for Nuclear Abolition

Hiroshima, Aug. 6 (Jiji Press)--Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui called on policymakers around the world to show determination and implement policies for nuclear abolition, in an annual peace declaration Thursday, the 81st anniversary of the U.S. atomic bombing of the western Japan city.

Noting that "we still see military invasions using nuclear weapons as tools of intimidation as well as other imperious actions by major powers in violation of international law," Matsui said, "Civil society demands the immediate abolition of nuclear weapons."

The mayor read out the declaration at the city's annual peace ceremony at Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park, which brought together about 50,000 people including hibakusha atomic bomb survivors, bereaved relatives of victims of the bombing and Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi.

Among the attendees were representatives from a record 123 countries and regions, and the European Union. China and Russia did not attend the ceremony, while the United States was represented by the deputy chief of mission at its embassy in Tokyo.

At 8:15 a.m., the time when the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945, the participants offered one-minute silent prayers as the Peace Bell at the park was rung.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]