Reverend Gyoro Nagase planting the new tree

ANTI-WAR campaigners delivered powerful speeches on the 80th anniversary of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings.

Former Labour MP Emma Dent Coad, now an independent councillor in Kensington and Chelsea, said there was a “worldwide army” of people opposed to war and wanting an end to nuclear weapons.

One of three vice-chairs of CND, the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, she was speaking at an event in Tavistock Square, Bloomsbury, on Wednesday. A new cherry tree was planted in memory of victims.

She said: “We must recognise the power of this massive worldwide army of peoples across the planet who desperately want to protect this Earth and what we have. Hate is easy, dehumanising entire races or religions because they may not look like you, eat like you, live like you, or pray like you. It’s all too easy to make them your enemy and to other them… and create more insecurity, setting neighbour against neighbour, friend against friend. Their narrative is strong but bullies are weak, fighting with compassion and love shows true strength. We need to harness that power, we need an equally strong counter narrative. We have work to do. Solidarity and strength to us all.”

Emma Dent Coad speaks at the event

The ceremony remembered the victims of America’s 1945 atom bomb attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

The cherry tree, a species popular in Japan for its spring blossoms, replaced one that was planted in 1967 by a former mayor of Camden, Millie Miller. It had to be removed after tree experts said it was decaying.

Dozens came to pay their respects, and the message by organisers called for the total elimination of nuclear weapons both in the UK and globally.

Tavistock Square is associated with a message of peace. It was where the Tavistock Clinic was founded in 1920, a groundbreaking medical unit that helped many service personnel suffering shell-shock. A year after the tree was planted, the then prime minister Harold Wilson visited the square and unveiled a sculpture of Mahatma Gandhi.

Murad Qureshi

Another of the three vice-presidents running London CND Murad Qureshi said: “We’re living in compelling times and the need to campaign for nuclear disarmament is more critical than ever. We have to make sure our voices are heard powerfully.”

Performances at the event included singing by the Raised Voices choir and a play by playwright Michael Mears.

As spadefuls of earth were dropped around the new cherry tree’s trunk, peace activist and monk Reverend Gyoro Nagase led a group reflection, banging a ceremonial drum.

In a final speech, Japanese Against Nuclear activist Shigeo Kobayashi said: “I hope people like you today will carry on the touch and raise voices against the nuclear weapons and nuclear energy, bringing catastrophic results across Japan. Being Japanese, today’s presence here really gives me some strength and courage.

“The time we are in now we have the threat of nuclear war.

“It might happen any time soon. We have to protect the planet while we can.”

• ‘Never forget. As the events of 6th and 9th August 1945 move further into the past, the truth about nuclear weapons, and the testimonies of those who saw them first-hand, are in danger of being forgotten.’ www.cnduk.org/NeverForget