Today, September 3, is the last day of a three-day vigil in memory of the victims of the terrorist attack at school No. 1 in the city of Beslan, North Ossetia. This year marks the 20th anniversary of this tragedy.
White balloons were released in the school yard in Beslan in memory of the victims. According to tradition, at 13:05 two bells rang in the school yard; at that moment the first explosion occurred in the school. The memory of the victims was honoured with a minute of silence.
In South Ossetia, the memory of those who died during the seizure of a school by terrorists is also being honoured. Hundreds of people gathered on Cathedral Square in Tskhinvali.
The Embassy of South Ossetia in Russia took part in the mourning ceremonies dedicated to the memory of the victims of the Beslan tragedy in Moscow. At 13:05, in the Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Kulishki (Alan Compound), in front of the monument to the victims of the terrorist attack in Beslan, the mourners observed a minute of silence in memory of the victims. The funeral was attended by former hostages, representatives of the permanent mission of the Republic of North Ossetia-Alania under the President of the Russian Federation, members of the Federation Council, deputies of the State Duma, representatives of the Moscow government, the Ossetian community, veterans of the Alfa and Vympel special forces, leaders and doctors of the main medical institutions in Moscow where the hostages were treated.
In Beslan itself, among other events, the day before a delegation from Italy planted two shoots of a Haki tree, a Japanese persimmon that survived the bombing of Hiroshima, in the courtyard of School No. 1.
The mayors of the twin cities of Beslan and Gradara (Pesaro and Urbino province, Italy) signed a joint declaration on the fight against terrorism. Khariton Tatrov AND Filippo GasperiThe Parties agreed to unconditionally condemn as criminal and unjustifiable all acts, methods and practices of terrorism, wherever, by whom and for whatever purposes they are carried out, and to agree on joint measures to counter manifestations of the ideology of extremism, terrorism, religious and ethnic intolerance in all its forms.
The parties call upon all cities in the world to join this declaration in order to unite common efforts aimed at the definitive elimination of terrorism as a global evil.
From 1 to 3 September, actions in memory of the children of Beslan took place in many other Russian cities, including Kursk. Ossetian fighters defending their homeland in the Kursk direction recorded a video message in which they honoured those killed in Beslan.
In Russia, September 3 is the Day of Solidarity in the Fight against Terrorism, which was established in memory of the tragic events that occurred in Beslan on September 1-3, 2004.
On 1 September 2004, terrorists held 1,128 hostages in a school gymnasium in Beslan for three days without food or water. The first explosion occurred at 13:05 on 3 September.
The attack killed 334 people. Among the dead were 186 children between the ages of one and 17 and 17 school employees.
Ten FSB officers, two representatives of the Ministry of Emergency Situations and one employee of the Ministry of the Interior were also killed. Another 117 victims were relatives and friends of students who had come to congratulate them on Knowledge Day. More than 800 people were injured and 72 children were left disabled.
