Meetings of protest or dances on children's bones?

Rallies swept all across Russia on mourning days, but it is not clear, what they had been organized for

A rally took place in Beslan 23 hours after the siege. People wanted and needed that meeting – they wanted to know the truth. They wanted the authorities to tell them what happened to their relatives and children. They had a lot of questions to ask on Saturday, September 4th, but no official came to the meeting. No one told them, where they could look for their loved ones – at hospitals, morgues or in the ruins of the school. According to the Novaya Gazeta newspaper, some people shouted in a fit of tempter that they would take their children's bodies to Vladikavkaz and put them down on the square in front of the government building. North Ossetian President Alexander Dzasokhov only looked mournful on TV screens – he did not come out to his people. He had no time for it.

The Russian government, United Russia party do not have any time either. The party makes meetings happen, governmental officials are busy on sessions. They will probably make belated decisions “tomorrow,” as it happened many times before. They will start talking about tough measures to be taken to establish law and order in the country. As a result, the large law-enforcement army will grow even more, and Beslan residents will have to go to court, trying to receive their compensations. “It is hard and bitter to talk,” President Putin said. Easier said than done.

The massive rally in Moscow provoked political fights. Communist leader Gennady Zyuganov was not given an opportunity to say something at the meeting. Zyuganov took offence and said he would arrange a meeting of his own in October. Other parties did not even post anything on their websites to clarify what they intended to do, whom they were going to help.

The most talked-about question in Russia at the moment is terrorism and where it came from. Someone says it is the legacy of the Soviet Union and the communist party. Others affirm it came from Boris Yeltsin, when the White House was attacked in Moscow. It becomes obvious, however, there is no Caucasian war at all. There are criminal gangs scouring about the Caucasus. The government is still paralyzed. Meetings or TV marathons held on mourning days is like dancing on children's bones.

Aleksey Perfilyev

RTR photos