On August 6, 1945, the city of Hiroshima was destroyed by a single atomic bomb which - then and later ¬- killed a total of 250 000 people. On August 9, Nagasaki suffered a comparable fate.

In order to say « Never again anywhere ! », as the hibakusha (bomb-survivors) have long been saying, the 65th anniversary of those tragic events will be commemorated in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, but also in many places around the world, notably in the cities belonging to the « Mayors for Peace » organisation (over 4000 cities) or the « Abolition 2000 » network.

In France, in the city of Saintes (Charente-maritime), a member of both networks, the Nuclear Disarmament Flame - which was inaugurated in May 2001 during the first Nuclear Disarmament Days and relit subsequently several times (e.g. November 2009 along with the Hiroshima Flame which accompanied the World March for Peace and Nonviolence) - will burn again from 6 to 9 August at the Monument to the Dead.

It will be lit on Friday 6 August at 8.15am (the time when the « Little Boy » bomb exploded over Hiroshima) in the presence of a M. Christian Couillaud, the deputy mayor representing the mayor and city council, M. Georges Mounier, on behalf of the local Union of Veterans, Mme Catherine Quéré, local MP, and M. Jean-Marie Matagne, President of ACDN. Meet at 8 o’clock sharp, Place Foch, opposite the Palais de Justice.

The Flame will be put out on 9 August at 11.02 am, the time when the « Fat Man » bomb exploded over Nagasaki.

We call on our fellow-citizens to take part in these ceremonies or in similar events organised in other parts of France : in Paris (a « petitioning fast » from 6 to 9 August, Place Joffre, at the initiative of the Maison de Vigilance de Taverny) ; in Bordeaux (gathering on August 6 from 5pm in front of the Peace sculpture, on the initiative of the Appel des Cent) ; in Gramat, Lot ( « Gramatomic » festival on August 6 and 7, on the initiative of the SDN-Lot group), etc.

In addition, French and Global citizens are all invited - in the context of the « Very Last Atom » campaign of ACDN, the Friends of the Earth (France) and Monde Sans Guerres et Sans Violence - to write to the President of the Republic urging him to engage France in the process for abolishing nuclear weapons and to consult the French people by referendum on this very important question.

For more information : www.acdn.net

Contact : contact@acdn.net ; +33 6 73 50 76 61