Russia holds mourning actions on sixth anniversary of Beslan terror act

The mourning actions in Beslan started on September 1 and lasted for 3 days. On September 3, mourning actions were also held in Moscow.

On September 1, people were coming to School No. 1 in Beslan from early morning. Well before the "first ring" at 9:15 over 2500 persons gathered in the school yard. The president, the chairman of the parliament and other high-ranking officials of North Ossetia came to commemorate the victims. Visitors from Croatia and Abkhazia came to express solidarity with victims of the terror act.

On September 2, Beslan held a traditional day of silence: during the whole day people were coming to School No. 1 and to the memorial cemetery in the "City of Angels" to commemorate the victims of the terror act committed in September 2004.

The main mourning actions took place on September 3. At the access to the school gym people were given candles and carnations that they could put near the photos of lost people. The centre of the gym, where there is the cross, is literally covered with flowers.

At 1:05 p.m., two bell chimes sounded in the yard: in is the time when the storm began. A minute of silence was announced; then schoolboys, by tradition, sent 334 white balloons, by the number of terror act casualties, into the sky.

At 2:30 p.m., the mourning ceremony continued at the memorial cemetery in the "City of Angels", where about five thousand persons gathered. All the actions passed under strengthened security measures.