Belarusians Recall Nuke Disaster

MINSK, Belarus (AP) - Thousands of Belarusians rallied peacefully Sunday to mark the 13th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear accident and protest against government policies.

The explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear plant on April 26, 1986, in neighboring Ukraine - the world's worst nuclear accident - spewed radiation across parts of Europe. A substantial chunk of the contamination fell on Belarus.

About 7,000 protesters marched through the Belarusian capital of Minsk on Sunday carrying red-and-white nationalist flags and banners calling for more attention to the lingering consequences of the accident.

The cash-strapped former Soviet republic has struggled to pay for cleanup and health care for fallout victims.

In eastern France, 400 people gathered Sunday near a nuclear reactor in Thionville to mark the anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear accident and protest France's heavy reliance on atomic energy.

The protesters, chanting ``End nuclear power!'' unrolled a single banner along two miles of a rail line used to transport nuclear waste from Germany to France's nuclear processing plant in Normandy.

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