RUSSIA: PEOPLE OF BESLAN MARK 6 MONTHS SINCE THE SCHOOL SIEGE TRADEGY / PROTESTERS GATHER IN MOSCOW TO DEMAND FULL INVESTIGATIONS INTO MILITANT ATTACKS

Record ID: 647009

  • Title: RUSSIA: PEOPLE OF BESLAN MARK 6 MONTHS SINCE THE SCHOOL SIEGE TRADEGY / PROTESTERS GATHER IN MOSCOW TO DEMAND FULL INVESTIGATIONS INTO MILITANT ATTACKS
  • Date: 3rd March 2005
  • Summary: (EU) BESLAN, NORTH OSSETIA, RUSSIA (MARCH 3, 2005) (REUTERS) 1. WOMAN SPREADING WATER OVER FLOWERS ON FLOOR OF DAMAGED SCHOOL GYM 0.06 2. SCU: TWO WOMEN INSIDE GYM, CRYING 0.13 3. VARIOUS OF PEOPLE BRINGING FLOWERS 0.21 4. BANNER IN GYM READING (English): "YOU ARE NOT ALONE" 0.28 5. WOMEN PUTTING BOTTLE ON GROUND AND CRYING 0.35 6. PEOPLE CARRYING FLOWERS 0.41 7. MORE OF FLOWERS 0.47 8. WS: BESLAN RESIDENTS ATTEND RALLY OUTSIDE SCHOOL 0.56 9. VARIOUS OF RALLY IN PROGRESS (3 SHOTS) 1.22 10. MV: PEOPLE ARRIVING AT CEMETERY 1.29 11. VARIOUS PEOPLE HOLDING A WAKE BY GRAVE / PREPARING FOOD (2 SHOTS) 1.37 12. SCU: PICTURE OF A BOY ATTACHED TO WOODEN CROSS OF GRAVE 1.44 13. WOMAN CRYING BY GRAVE 1.48 14. WIDE VIEW CEMETERY 1.50 15. PEOPLE STANDING NEXT TO GRAVE 1.54 16. TWO WOMEN CRYING NEXT TO GRAVE 2.02 17. PEOPLE WALKING AMONGST GRAVES (3 SHOTS) 2.20 (EU) MOSCOW, RUSSIA (MARCH 3, 2005) (REUTERS) RALLY OUTSIDE NORTH OSSETIAN REPRESENTATIVE OFFICE BUILDING 18. CU'S: MEN HOLDING SIGN READING (Russian): "BESLAN! MOSCOW SHARES IN YOUR SORROW" 2.29 19. YOUNG WOMAN HOLDING PICTURE OF SCHOOL IN BESLAN; PAN TO PEOPLE HOLDING BANNER 2.38 20. (SOUNDBITE) (English) YELENA MILASHINA, A PROTESTER, SAYING: "We could have saved the people from the school, at least children. And nobody did it and I blame, first of all, who is guilty in this country, who is guilty in "Nord-Ost" [Moscow theatre siege], in Beslan, in "Kursk" [nuclear submarine that sank in 2000], every tragedy in which we did not save people. It is mister Putin." 2.59 21. WIDE VIEW RALLY IN PROGRESS 3.03 22. CU: SIGN READING: "REPRESENTATIVE OFFICE OF NORTH OSSETIA" 3.07 23. MORE OF RALLY (2 SHOTS) 3.18 24. (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) ILYA YASHIN, A PROTESTER, SAYING: "The whole state propaganda mechanism oriented towards covering up the tragedy in Beslan, which happened just several months ago. We do not want it to be forgotten. We want to see this crime solved and the guilty ones punished, not only those who seized the school in Beslan but those people who made it possible must be punished." 3.38 25. HAS: PROTESTERS AND MEDIA GATHERED 3.42 26. CU: FLOWERS 3.47 27. POLICEMEN 3.51 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 18th March 2005 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: BESLAN, NORTH OSSETIA AND MOSCOW, RUSSIA
  • Country: Russia
  • Reuters ID: LVA9BJA2ZAO4BCNHAOS3E7C2FAR
  • Story Text: Beslan marks six months since the school tragedy as
    protesters demand full investigations into militant attacks
    in Russia.



    The people of the southern Russian town of Beslan on
    Thursday (March 3) marked six month's since the tragedy in
    which more than 300 people, most of them children, were
    killed as Russian forces stormed a school seized by heavily
    armed Chechen gunmen.

    There is growing anger in Beslan over what residents
    describe as the inability of local authorities in North
    Ossetia and the government in Moscow, to tell the families
    of the victims what really happened, and how it was that
    around 40 Chechen rebels could seize a school, holding more
    than 1,000 people hostage.

    They say without full investigations the state will not
    learn how to halt such militant attacks.

    In Moscow on Thursday, outside the representative offices
    of the North Ossetian republic, protesters demanded
    answers.

    One protester said Russian President Vladimir Putin was
    ultimately to blame.

    "We could have saved the people from the school, at
    least children. And nobody did it and I blame, first of
    all, who is guilty in this country, who is guilty in
    "Nord-Ost" [Moscow theatre siege], in Beslan, in "Kursk"
    [nuclear submarine that sank in 2000], every tragedy in
    which we did not save people. It is mister Putin," said
    Yelena Milashina.

    Another protester said unanswered questions about
    Beslan remained.

    "The whole state propaganda mechanism oriented towards
    covering up the tragedy in Beslan, which happened just
    several months ago. We do not want it to be forgotten. We
    want to see this crime solved and the guilty ones punished,
    not only those who seized the school in Beslan but those
    people who made it possible must be punished," said Ilya
    Yashin.

    Their numbers may be small but analysts say the
    protest could 'sting' because the Kremlin hates criticism
    of its "anti-terrorist" policy.

    "They have a pure cause. You cannot say some politician
    is standing behind it. These are people who cannot be
    scared off," said Masha Lipman, an analyst from Moscow's
    Carnegie Centre.

    Almost every major militant attack suffered by
    Russians has a pressure group pushing for a full
    investigation into how it happened, challenging a long-held
    official stance of secrecy that victims' relatives consider
    dangerous.


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