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Hiroshima day witnesses

record turnout

HIROSHIMA (Japan): With the flutter of 1,500 doves and the mass collapse to the ground by anti-nuclear activists, the Japanese city of Hiroshima commemorated the dropping of the world's first atomic bomb on Sunday and dedicated itself to eliminating all nuclear weapons.

The sweet smell of incense drifted over Hiroshima's Peace Memorial Park as 13,000 seated guests and tens of thousands more observed a minute's silence as a bell tolled at the exact time -- 8:15 a.m. -- when the world entered the era of nuclear war.

City officials said about 100,000 people attended the event, nearly twice the normal number, making it the biggest gathering since the commemorative ceremonies started.

The spotlight on the hour-long ceremonies was brighter than ever because of recent Chinese atomic tests and France's decision to resume nuclear testing later this year.

Hiroshima's mayor, Takashi Hiraoka, in the keynote speech, called for an immediate nuclear test ban and establishment of a new nuclear-free zone in the Asia-Pacific region.

Calling nuclear arms "clearly inhumane weapons in obvious violation of interantional law", Hiraoka urged Japan to play a leading role in abolishing them.

Japanese Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama picked up the theme and singled out China and France for criticisms about their nuclear weapions programmes.

"Nuclear weapon states should make every effort to reduce nuclear armaments; the recent nuclear test performed by China and the decision made by France to resume nuclear tests are extremely regrettable, and we have strongly urged them to cease nuclear testing and to withdraw the decision," Murayama told the crowd.

The commemoration was an overwhelmingly Japanese affair with only one foreigner, United Nations Under-Secretary General, Joseph Reed, an American - among the speakers.

Hibakusha, or atomic-bomb survivors, from Brunei, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, and North and South Korea were among the crowd of invited guests.

The ceremony also drew peace and anti-nuclear activists from around the world to Hiroshima, now a bustling modern city of one million.

At this time 50 years ago the city was a flattened, devastated wasteland where 140,000 died on impact, or from radiation diseases in the ensuing years.

The mixture of well-dressed elderly and middle-aged Japanese mingling with activists in T-shirts gave a surreal feeling to the ceremonies.

Many cars in the city stopped at the moment the bell tolled and the most dramatic action was the "die-in" by several hundred anti-nuclear activists who fell to the ground in a symbol of the annhilation that nuclear war can cause.

For the moment debate about whether the United States was right to drop "Little Boy", the name of the bomb, on the city was forgotten as the crowd remembered the victims and looked forward to a world free of nuclear war.

In a surprise comment in his speech, mayor Hiraoka broke with tradition and delivered a forthright formal apology for Japan's actions during World War Two.

"The suffering of all the war's victims indelibly etched in our hearts, we want to apologise for the unbearable suffering that Japanese colonial domination and war inflicted on so many people," Hiraoka said.

City officials said the mayor, a former journalist, wanted to use the symbolism of the 50th anniversary to make a healing gesture that crossed national boundaries.

Socialist Prime Minister Murayama, who only managed to push through a parliamentary resolution expressing "reflection," made no mention of Japanese actions during World War Two in his speech.

Outside the formal ceremonies there were many small events that varied from traditional Buddhist prayer recitals to a massive acupuncture operation to heal Hiroshima's suffering.

In the event three seven-metre (yard) tall "needles" were driven into the ground.-Reuter