Sorrowful Beslan Will Skip New Year's

[bin.dare]

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2004/12/30/002.html

Thursday, December 30, 2004. Page 1.
By Oksana Yablokova and Yana Voitova

Special to The Moscow Times BESLAN, North Ossetia -- With only days left before the New Year, the usually bustling streets of Beslan are unusually quiet and empty. There is no New Year's tree in the central square this year, and no fireworks or outdoor concerts are planned for New Year's Eve.

This town of 40,000 people remains in shock and despair after the school hostage-taking drama on Sept. 1-3 that claimed the lives of more than 330 residents, most of them children and their parents.

...

"Beslan is still on the map, and there are still many children left in our city. New ones will be born, and we will have holidays one day as well."

Survivors were flooded with invitations to go away for the holidays. A group of 80 children have traveled to Moscow to attend the Kremlin Palace's famed New Year's party and outdoor shows at Patriarch's Ponds and the Hermitage Garden. Some 200 former hostages and their parents have been invited to attend a New Year's party in the North Ossetian capital, Vladikavkaz. Another group of children and parents arrived in Latvia last Thursday for three weeks of rehabilitation and recreation at a private sanatorium at the invitation of Telegraf, the country's third-largest Russian-language newspaper.

...

[InvisibleBallots]

1. my God those poor people

It's impossible to comprehend.

[bin.dare]

2. Beslan to render 1 million rubles to tsunami victims' benefit

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/doc/HotNews.html#64657

VLADIKAVKAZ. Dec 31 (Interfax-South) - Beslan residents are planning to render aid to those affected by the tsunami disaster in South East Asia, head of the Beslan public council Mairbek Tuayev told Interfax.
"Our council has decided to transfer 1 million rubles to those who suffered from the disaster in South East Asia. As soon as we know the bank account number, we will transfer this money," he said.

"Beslan residents will never forget how the whole world responded to our tragedy. Therefore we will always respond to tragedies of people suffering from both disasters and terrorist attacks worldwide," Tuayev said