The Mayors of the two Japanese cities devastated by atomic bombs in World War Two -- Hiroshima and Nagasaki -- have added their own strong protest to the growing outcry against the impending French nuclear tests in the Pacific.

Mayor Setsuo Yamada of Hiroshima and Mayor Yoshi take Morotani of Nagasaki lodged a joint protest at the French Embassy, Tokyo, on Friday. They handed over a message condemning the French test programme as a "reckless act" and "crime against all mankind".

SYNOPSIS: At the French Embassy in Tokyo, the protests against the impending French nuclear tests in the Pacific have been continuing.

On Friday, the Mayors of the only two cities to have been devastated by nuclear warfare -- Hiroshima and Nagasaki - lodged a joint protest. They called at the Embassy to hand over a message condemning the French test as a "reckless act" and as a crime against all mankind. They complained that France had trampled over world opinion and over the ruling of the International Court of Justice.

Hiroshima claims two-hundred thousand people died in the World War Two nuclear attack. Nagasaki had seventy-thousand dead. On leaving, the two mayors said Embassy staff agreed to pass their protest to the French Government.