Green MEP for London, Jean Lambert will take part in a special memorial event at Tavistock Square on Monday, 6th August to commemorate the many victims of the atomic bombs dropped on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of the Second World War.

The ceremony, organised by the London branch of the Campaign Against Nuclear Disarmament, will take place by the Japanese cherry tree planted in the Square in 1967 as a memorial to the hundreds of thousands who lost their lives on the 6th August 1945. Symbolic poetry and music will be heard during the hour long event, and a minute’s silence will be held to honour the victims.

The aim of the day is to ensure that the death and suffering caused by the use of nuclear weapons in war is never forgotten, nor repeated. It is estimated that 140,000 people were killed in Hiroshima, and 74,000 in Nagasaki where the second, bigger bomb was dropped three days later.

Speaking ahead of the ceremony, Jean, a longstanding campaigner for peace, said: “Just one year on from the devastating leak at the Fukushima power plant, we mark the 67th anniversary of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs with a disquieting sense of familiarity with the devastating consequences of nuclear technology. If one damaged nuclear reactor can cause so much grief and harm, it isn’t difficult to imagine what absolute havoc would be unleashed on the world as a result of nuclear warfare.

“The senseless destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki should be the most eloquent and chilling testimony against nuclear weapons, yet the UK is still willing to spend millions on a replacement to the Trident nuclear weapons programme when we could be leading the way in nuclear disarmament. The world has witnessed enough of the horrific realities of living and dying through nuclear contamination, and on this day, some 67 years later, we can only hope that the lessons of the past will one day be heard.”

Notes to Editor

1. The ceremony will take place at Tavistock Square, WCI, from midday. The event will also be attended by Jeremy Corbyn MP, Heather Johnson, the Mayor of Camden and Ken Livingstone.