Bells have tolled in Japan's Hiroshima for the 75th anniversary of the world's first atomic bombing, with ceremonies downsized due to the coronavirus pandemic and the city's mayor urging nations to reject self-centred nationalism and commit to nuclear disarmament more seriously.
Though thousands usually pack the Peace Park in central Hiroshima to pray, sing and lay paper cranes as a symbol of peace, entrance to Thursday's memorial ceremony was sharply limited, with only survivors, relatives and a handful of foreign dignitaries allowed to attend.
Participants, many of them dressed in black and wearing face masks, stood for a moment of silence at 8:15 am, the exact time that the atomic bomb, nicknamed "Little Boy", exploded on August 6, 1945, obliterating Hiroshima and killing 140,000 of an estimated population of 350,000.
Thousands more died later of injuries and radiation-related illnesses.
"On August 6, 1945, a single atomic bomb destroyed our city. Rumour at the time had it that 'nothing will grow here for 75 years,'" Mayor Kazumi Matsui said in a speech afterwards.
"And yet, Hiroshima recovered, becoming a symbol of peace."
(Source: Al Jazeera)