Photo/Illutration Thomas Bach, president of the International Olympic Committee, offers flowers and a prayer at the cenotaph for victims of the Aug. 6, 1945, atomic bombing of Hiroshima at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park on July 16. (Pool)

Local governments are being forced to pay the security costs for the tour of Hiroshima by International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach, a visit that many in the city had opposed, sources said.

The Hiroshima prefectural and municipal governments asked the Tokyo Olympic organizing committee to cover the fee of 3.79 million yen ($34,300) for the security, but it refused the request.

The prefectural and city governments have decided to split the costs.

Bach visited Hiroshima on July 16, before the opening of the Tokyo Olympics, and laid a wreath at the cenotaph at Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park.

According to the local governments, the security detail at the park was subcontracted to a private company.

In addition, prefectural police officers and local officials were dispatched to ensure smooth proceedings at the park and were also in charge of security there.

Protesters gathered around the venue to criticize Bach and his organization’s insistence on holding the Tokyo Olympics during the raging COVID-19 pandemic.

The Tokyo metropolitan area was placed under a state of emergency at the time.

Even a group of atomic bomb victims objected to Bach’s visit, describing it as a political stunt to appease the Japanese public.

“It is intended to justify holding the Olympics during the pandemic despite the significant opposition to the event,” a group member said.

Hiroshima Governor Hidehiko Yuzaki, however, said at a July 8 news conference about Bach’s planned visit, “It is meaningful to call for world peace.”

“Although there were pros and cons over Bach’s visit, we judged that paying (for the security costs) would obtain support from local residents,” a prefectural official said.

According to the Hiroshima municipal government, when Pope Francis visited the city in 2019, the Catholic Church arranged the security for the pontiff.

Prefectural and city governments dispatched police officers, but they paid only the fee of 990,000 yen to install barricades to private-sector subcontractors.

When U.S. President Barack Obama visited Hiroshima in 2016, the local governments did not need to pay anything for security.

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