Japan on Friday marked 76 years since the world’s first atomic bomb attack, with low-key ceremonies and disappointment over a refusal by Olympics organisers to hold a minute’s silence.
Survivors, relatives and a handful of foreign dignitaries attended this year’s main event in Hiroshima to pray for those killed or wounded in the bombing and call for world peace.
Virus concerns meant the general public were once again kept away, with the ceremony instead broadcast online.
Participants, many dressed in black and wearing face masks, offered a silent prayer at 8:15 am (2315 GMT Thursday), the time the first nuclear weapon used in wartime was dropped over the city.
An estimated 140,000 people were killed in the bombing of Hiroshima, which was followed three days later by the atomic bombing of Nagasaki.
On Friday, Hiroshima’s mayor warned “experience has taught humanity that threatening others for self-defence benefits no one”.
He also called for leaders to visit Hiroshima and Nagasaki to “achieve a deeper understanding of the bombings”.
Read the full story on Khaleej Times
