Gazeta.Ru
02 SEPTEMBER 10:27
[my tr.]
The relatives of those who perished in the Beslan tragedy spent last night in the school's gymnasium and at the cemetery. Many mothers will remain there until 13.05 on September 3 – the time of the start of the storming of the building.
The second day of mourning declared in North Ossetia to the memory on those killed at Beslan will be much less official than the first. From 7 am onwards people who consider it their duty to honour thememory of the victims will arrive in Beslan from different republics. Delegations from the adjacent republics and the most distant mountain settlements of North Ossetia will arrive to express their condolences to the relatives of those who perished. It is possible that there will be even more people than on the first day, when about 7,000 people visited the cemetery.
More than 30 mothers spent last night in the school gymnasium, while at the cemetery by the graves of those who perished there were about 40 people. "We we be going spend forty-eight hours, some in the gymnasium, some at the cemetery, and another twelve - the time our children suffered in the gymnasium ", Marina Melikova, one of the members of the "Mothers of Beslan" committee, said late last night, Interfaks-Yug reports. This nocturnal funeral vigil is one of the ancient Ossetic rituals. According to traditions, throughout this whole period the parents and relatives of the children who were killed will not take food.
All this time the building of the ruined school is being intensively guarded - it is possible to gain access to the building only after passing through metal detectors. Patrols also carefully examine all suspicious objects. In addition to the officials of law-enforcement agencies, the school and cemetery are guarded by the young residents of Beslan. These people refused to admit journalists either to the cemetery or to the school all night. Voluntary guards explained to the press that the people must remain in private with their grief, and not be exposed to the flashing of cameras. In this way the young people intend to guard the relatives of the children who were killed until the mourning ceremonies are over. When morning approached, the women who remained in the school prepared the gymnasium for the next day of mourning, the NTV television network reports. They are clearing away the burnt candles, and making room for new ones. Today the families of those were killed
will begin preparations for the funeral repast: the whole family is invited into the house, while a sacrificial animal is slaughtered for the funeral table, after which the women must remove mourning attire. In the families of the 22 men who were shot during the first day of act of terror such funeral repasts have already taken place,
but most of the funeral rites will be held throughout the entire month.
Early this morning Bishop Theofan of Stavropol and Vladikavkaz held a requiem mass in Beslan's Svyatouspensky Monastery. Meanwhile Aleksy II,Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, called on everyone "to pray for the repose of souls" on September 3. "In these days of grief and memory, when we are all united in common grief, the Russian Orthodox Church expresses deep sympathy and spiritual support to those who have lost relatives and dear ones, to all the residents of Beslan and North Ossetia ", he says in his statement.
On Friday on the order of Ravil Gainutdin, chairman of the Council of Muftis of Russia, funeral prayers for the victims of the terrorist act in Beslan will be read in all Russian mosques. "In our Friday sermons and prayers we will unfailingly remember the victims of the Beslans tragedy. Among the killed and injured there were both Muslims and Christians ", Gainutdin said in an interview for RIA
Novosti.
The delegation of the "Mothers of Beslan" committee, which is to meet with President Vladimir Putin on Friday, intends to continue taking part in the mourning ceremonies. The Interfaks-Yug agency reports that at 9.10 am local time,four mothers and four victims travelled to Moscow on a charter flight. The meeting with Putin is supposed to begin at 11.00, and the mothers intend to return to Beslan almost immediately after.
Gazeta.Ru will follow the progress of the mourning ceremonies in
Beslan.
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