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Hundreds of Japanese protest Obama visit to Hiroshima

27 May 2016 - 16:54




Residents�in�Hiroshima have greeted President Barack Obama with protests at�the site of the world�s first atomic bombing conducted by the US more than 70 years ago.

Obama arrived at Hiroshima's atomic bomb park Friday on the�first visit by a sitting US president and was�greeted by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

�You�re not welcome here� and �Get out of Hiroshima,� the protesters shouted in�a rally�held at�the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park.

They held banners that read, �Get rid of all nukes immediately,� �Remove all US bases from Okinawa� and �We won�t let you use military alliances to start your next war.�

Among the protesters, there were labor union members, college students as well as survivors and the relatives of the victims of the Hiroshima bombing on August 6, 1945.

�I could hear schoolchildren screaming �Help me! Help me!� said Kinuyo Ikegami, an 82-year old survivor of the bombing, who took part in the Friday gathering.

"It was too pitiful, too horrible. Even now it fills me with emotion,� she added.

�The suffering such as illness gets carried on over the generation,� said Han�Jeong-soon, the daughter of a Korean survivor.

�That is what I want President Obama to know. I want him to understand our sufferings.�

Obama�has said he will not apologize for the bombing, which killed thousands instantly, and some 140,000 by that year�s end.
�I want Obama to say �I�m sorry.� If he does, maybe my suffering will ease,� said 73-year-old Eiji Hattori, who was a toddler at the time of the bombing and now has three types of cancer.

�If Obama apologized, I could die and meet my parents in heaven in peace,� he said.
US President Barack Obama and Japanese Prime Minister Sinzo Abe (L) talk before a meeting of Group of Seven (G7) with other leaders at the city of Shima, in Mie Prefecture, May 26, 2016. (Photo by AFP)Obama's�visit to Hiroshima has stirred heated debate,�with critics�pointing to paradoxes in policies relying on nuclear�deterrence while calling for an end to atomic arms.

The city of�Nagasaki was hit by a second nuclear bomb on Aug. 9, 1945, and�Japan surrendered six days later.

The US justifies the bombings, contending that they were�necessary to end the war and save lives, although many�historians question that view and believe they were�unjustified.

Aides say Obama's main objective in Hiroshima�is to showcase his nuclear�disarmament agenda. However, critics say he has�made scant progress and is spending heavily�to modernize the US�atomic arsenal.

Japan, despite advocating disarmament,�relies on the US�nuclear umbrella for extended deterrence.

Among the governments�critical of the visit, North Korea on Friday�denounced Obama�s visit to Hiroshima as an act of stunning hypocrisy and "a�childish political calculation."

�Even if Obama visits the damaged city, he cannot hide his identity as a nuclear war fanatic and nuclear weapons proliferator,� read part of a report on North Korea�s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

By Press TV


Story Code: 215793

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