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Tens of thousands of people have rallied near Japan's crippled Fukushima plant demanding an end to nuclear power as the nation marked the first anniversary of a disastrous earthquake and tsunami. Memorial ceremonies and anti-nuclear demonstrations were held across the northeast region where an estimated 160,000 people were forced to evacuate after the monster waves triggered a meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi plant. Around 16,000 people gathered at a baseball stadium in Koriyama some 60 kilometres away from the plant. Participants called for an end to nuclear energy in Japan and compensation for victims from operator Tokyo Electric Power, a year after the March 11 quake-tsunami sparked the world's worst atomic disaster in a generation. "Our town has turned out to be another Chernobyl," Masami Yoshizawa, who ran a cattle farm in Namie, 10km from the plant, shouted through a loudspeaker. "We are in despair now, but I will get back my hometown even if it takes me the rest of my life," said Yoshizawa as he stood atop a wagon displaying pictures of his cows lying dead in their shed. "I won't be beaten, no matter what. I will keep on fighting," he said. A group of monks in brown and white robes chanted Buddhist sutras as activists carried banners reading: "We never forget the March 11 Great Earthquake. We will never forgive the nuclear accident." "Fukushima is being forgotten day by day," said Yumiko Ono, a 34-year-old graphic designer from Tokyo. | 
