OSAKA - Anti-nuclear protesters held a series of large rallies in Japan's southwestern city of Fukuoka on Sunday, with more than 15,000 people participating and calling for dismantlement of all nuclear power plants in Japan, Kyodo News reported.

"We'll work together so as not to see our soil contaminated with radiation," Yukinobu Aoyagi, a leading member of the events, was quoted as telling a gathering in a park in Fukuoka.

A woman who evacuated to Fukuoka Prefecture from Fukushima Prefecture, told the event that she hopes to see "a world free of nuclear plants" following the nuclear crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi plant crippled by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.

The participants then took to the streets marching through downtown Fukuoka, holding placards and signs including those that read "We don't want nuclear plants" and "No nuclear plants."

After the earthquake and tsunami triggered the worst nuclear disaster in Japan, rallies are held sometimes across the country by antinuclear protesters, urging the Japanese government to cut reliance on atomic power.

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