Vigils, Protests Mark Hiroshima Anniversary

Thousands marked the 45th anniversary Monday of the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima with vigils, proclamations of peace and protests outside the nation’s nuclear weapons plants.

About 140,000 people died in the Aug. 6, 1945, blast over Japan, the world’s first atomic bombing.

Police arrested 25 people Monday at Rocky Flats, the plant northwest of Denver that produces plutonium triggers for nuclear weapons. About 100 activists also had gathered at the plant’s west gate Sunday for a prayer vigil.

Sgt. Larry Tolar of the Colorado State Patrol said protesters were arrested for obstructing traffic, denying access to the plant and trespassing.

Los Angeles peace activist Jerry Rubin--no relation to the former yippie and Chicago Seven defendant--concluded a 103-day liquids-only fast Monday by calling for an end to the nuclear arms race.

Rubin was among 700 people who gathered at a ceremony in Los Angeles on Sunday marking the anniversary.

Mayor Tom Bradley said city officials were searching for a permanent place for the “Hiroshima Eternal Flame for Peace,” a gift last August from the mayor of Hiroshima. It is supposed to burn until nuclear weapons are eliminated.

In Minneapolis, about 250 people attended the city’s annual Hiroshima memorial service. Mayor Don Fraser read a peace proclamation.

A silent vigil was held at the state Capitol in Denver, and church bells rang in Northampton, Mass. About 30 anti-nuclear demonstrators staged a vigil outside Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio.

On Sunday, 10 protesters were arrested in Oak Ridge, Tenn., for trespassing at the Y-12 Plant, where uranium for the Hiroshima bomb was prepared. About 150 peace activists gathered at the plant’s gate.

More than 250 people attended a vigil Sunday outside the Savannah River nuclear weapons plant.