The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)

Vigil on Dundee Law for the victims of Hiroshima

Piper plays lament as Tayside CND marks day with speeches and procession

- STEFAN MORKIS smorkis@thecourier.co.uk

A vigil to commemorat­e the victims of the Hiroshima bombing took place on Dundee Law last night.

The annual walk, organised by Tayside CND, is now in its 37th year and is the oldest continuous Hiroshima Day commemorat­ion in Scotland.

The procession began the ascent from Law Road to the top of the Law at 8pm.

When participan­ts reached the summit of the Law, they heard speeches from LGBT+ activist Andrew Cuthbert, workplace chaplain Geoff Findlay and Sandy Constable from Tayside CND.

Piper Liam Eaton played a lament for the victims of the bombing.

Alan Cowan, secretary of Tayside CND, said: “In January 2018, scientists moved the hands of the Doomsday Clock to two minutes to midnight. This is the closest humanity has been to nuclear Armageddon since the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962. Today we say to our politician­s we want an end to wasteful spending on nuclear weapons. We want peace and urge the UK Government to sign and ratify the UN Treaty on the Prohibitio­n of Nuclear Weapons.”

On Thursday, there will be a further short act of remembranc­e on the Law at 11.02am – the time the second atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki.

At least 129,000 people were killed in both bombings, while the radiation caused cancer and birth defects in thousands more.

The Hiroshima bomb was detonated above the city, killing almost 80,000

We urge the UK Government to sign and ratify the UN Treaty

people immediatel­y. Thousands more later died from radiation poisoning. In total, 90% of the city’s population was destroyed.

The second bomb on Nagasaki killed an estimated 40,000 more people.

Japanese Emperor Hirohito announced his country’s surrender on August 15, six days after the second bomb was dropped.

 ?? Picture: Dougie Nicolson. ?? The vigil on Dundee Law last night on Hiroshima Day in remembranc­e of the atomic bomb victims.
Picture: Dougie Nicolson. The vigil on Dundee Law last night on Hiroshima Day in remembranc­e of the atomic bomb victims.

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United Kingdom