Relatives of Beslan victims hold rally in Vladikavkaz

Residents of Beslan who suffered in the September 1 terror attack held an unauthorized rally on Freedom Square near the Government House [in Vladikavkaz, the capital of North Osetia] today.

Approximately 200 people gathered on the square. President of North Osetia Aleksandr Dzasokhov and members of the republican government went to the square by request of the protesters.

Participants demanded that the exact number of victims and the exact number of terrorists who captured a school in Beslan should be given. Asked from what source the authorities obtained information about 354 hostages (these figures were given in the first days of the Beslan tragedy), Aleksandr Dzasokhov answered that such were indeed the figures in the lists of victims that were made up of the names given by relatives of the victims in the first minutes of the school capture. The people also demanded that the terror attack should be thoroughly investigated. Many Beslan residents complained that the evidence they gave many times leads to nothing. The rally resulted in the agreement that a meeting between Beslan residents and members of the North Osetian parliament as well as Moscow officials would be arranged in the Beslan Palace of Culture on November 18.