People in Japan began marking the 70th anniversary of the US atomic attack on Hiroshima in 1945.
Residents of the city have been raising awareness of the event with peaceful protests and ceremonies in front of the city’s Atomic Bomb Dome, the only structure left standing after the blast, Sky News reported.
In front of the dome Buddhist monks beat drums and prayed, while students took part in a “die-in” symbolizing the deaths of the 140,000 people killed in the attack on August 6, 1945.
Women from South Korea living in the city listened to their national anthem in front of a cenotaph dedicated to the South Korean nationals who were victims of the blast.
The US attack ushered in the Cold War era, a period of heightened tension between the West and the Soviet Union.
As well as killing around 200,000 people, the Hiroshima attack left hundreds of thousands more injured.
Many were permanently disabled and later generations were said to have been affected by congenital illnesses or deformities.
