- Title: RUSSIA: SECURITY INCREASED IN BESLAN AT END OF 40-DAY MOURNING PERIOD.
- Date: 11th October 2004
- Summary: (U4) BESLAN, RUSSIA (OCTOBER 10-11, 2004) (REUTERS) 1. GV: WIDE OF FLORAL TRIBUTES IN RUINS OF BESLAN'S SCHOOL NUMBER ONE 0.06 2. VARIOUS: MEN AND WOMEN WALKING AROUND RUINS OF GYM AT SCHOOL AND WEEPING; PEOPLE INSIDE RUINS OF GYM, FLORAL TRIBUTES; VARIOUS OF WREATH LAYING, CANDLES ETC (17 SHOTS) 1.37 3. (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) ALIK SARDI, 17-YEAR-OLD, A BESLAN RESIDENT, SAYING: "I think here we need an intelligent approach. There is no point in taking revenge against those who did this; they were killed anyway and their families can do nothing about it if they turned out like that." 1.48 4. GV/CU/GV/MV: FLOWER-COVERED MEMORIAL TO PEOPLE KILLED IN BESLAN AT THE TOWN'S CEMETERY (4 SHOTS) 1.58 5. GV/MV: FUNERALS IN PROGRESS OF PEOPLE WHOSE BODIES HAVE ONLY RECENTLY BEEN IDENTIFIED, ALMOST 40 DAYS AFTER THEIR DEATHS IN THE SIEGE OF THE SCHOOL NUMBER ONE (7 SHOTS) 2.53 6. (SOUNDBITE)(Russian) ZAMIRA, A BESLAN RESIDENT, SAYING: "We were looking for our relatives for more than a month; they brought one of them yesterday so we are having the funeral. Let God answer them [terrorists] and let Basayev answer in front of God." 3.10 7. GV/MV: MORE OF FUNERALS (2 SHOTS) 3.28 8. (SOUNDBITE)(Russian) KAZBEK, A BESLAN RESIDENT, SAYING: "We are trying to calm each other to avoid war amongst us. Vladikavkaz is the heart of Caucases and if something (conflict) broke out here I don't know what will be the result of it." 3.54 9. LV/GV: HELICOPTER FLYING OVER CEMETERY (2 SHOTS) 4.05 10. VARIOUS: VARIOUS OF RUSSIAN SOLDIERS IN BESLAN (11 SHOTS) 5.20 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 26th October 2004 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: BESLAN, NORTH OSSETIA, RUSSIA
- Country: Russia
- Reuters ID: LVA8QZEK7TL2D3GQKR1FZKM3JIY3
- Story Text: No end to the grief in Beslan as Russian authorities
step-up security before the end of a forty-day mourning
period.
There's no end to the grief in the southern Russian
town of Beslan, scene of a bloody school siege more than a
month ago.
Mourners, young and old, continue to pay their
tributes at the ruins of Beslan's school number one, where
for two days, on September 1st and 2nd, Chechen and Ingush
rebels, held more than 1,200 people hostage.
On the next day, September 3rd, Russian forces stormed
the school in an operation that collapsed into chaos. More
than 320 people died, half of them children. Most were
Ossetians who already had tense relations with the
neighbouring Ingush.
The authorities in North Ossetia and Moscow are
concerned that the grief felt by relatives of those who
died in the attack on the school in Beslan could explode
into violence against ethnic neighbours when mourning ends.
For 17-year-old Alik Sardi, a Beslan student, all talk
of revenge and violence rings hollow.
"I think here we need am intelligent approach. There
is no point in taking revenge against those who did this;
they were killed anyway and their families can do nothing
about it if they turned out like that," said Sardi as he
stood in the ruins of the school number one gymnasium. He
had gone there to lay flowers and light a candle in memory
of those who died there.
In the Orthodox Christian tradition, Tuesday (October
12), marks the end of a forty day period of mourning. But
while there is no immediate threat of conflict breaking
out, security has been stepped up across North Ossetia,
with large numbers of soldiers being deployed.
"We are trying to calm each other to avoid war amongst
us (North Ossetians and the Ingush). Vladikavkaz is the
heart of the Caucasus and if something (conflict) broke out
here I don't know what will be the result of it," said
Kazbek a Beslan resident.
At Beslan's cemetery, the funerals go on. It has taken
a long time to identifying the badly deformed bodies of
some of those killed in the siege tragedy, an emotionally
painful time for their relatives.
"We were looking for our relatives for more than a
month; they brought one of them yesterday so we are having
the funeral. Let God answer them [terrorists] and let
[Chechen warlord Shamil Basayev] Basayev answer in front of
God," said Beslan resident Zamira.
Last month Shamil Basyev claimed responsibility for
the attack on Beslan. The Russian authorities have put a
$10 million dollar reward for information to help it hunt
down Basayev and former Chechen President Aslan Maskhadov,
accusing both men of being behind last week's school siege.
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