(1 Sep 2009)
Beslan, North Ossetia, Russia
1. Wide shot billboard on the road in Beslan reading: (Russian) "We remember..."
2. Close up billboard with picture of candle
3. Wide of people walking towards Beslan's School No. 1
4. Wide pan of people entering school
5. Mid of people inside school
6. Wide of people walking inside school gymnasium where militants held the hostages
7. People looking at photographs of children killed in the school siege
8. Woman crying
9. Woman crying, repeating her daughter's name
10. Close up woman crying
11. People laying flowers near photographs
12. Photographs of children
13. Women crying
14. SOUNDBITE (Russian) Marina Tsutsieva, mother of a girl who died in the Beslan siege:
"The pain did not go away, how could it? When I meet the girls of the same age (as my daughter), I see that they are so nice, tall and beautiful. And mine is gone."
15. Mid shot woman lighting candle
16. SOUNDBITE (Russian) Konstantin, former police officer:
"We were guarding the school (during the siege). We were so afraid during the first night, there were shootings, we thought that the terrorists are coming out. It was horrible, it was impossible."
17. Priest blessing a grieving woman
18. Close-up of candles
19. Wide of priest performing a mourning service in the school
20. Close-up North Ossetian President Taimuraz Mamsurov during service
21. Mid shot of service
22. Children lighting candles, tilt-up to photographs
23. Close up of girl near candles
STORYLINE:
Wailing mothers and anguished relatives on Tuesday marked the fifth anniversary of Russia's worst militant attack, mourning the hundreds killed at Beslan's School No. 1 and haunted by questions over the botched rescue attempt.
Scores of people filed through the ravaged shell of the school's gymnasium, lighting candles, laying carnations and offering bottles of water to the victims of the 2004 attack, which saw 32 heavily armed militants hold more than 1,000 people hostage for nearly three days.
The ordeal ended on September 3, 2004, in a disastrous rescue attempt by Russian special forces that resulted in the deaths of 334 people, more than half of them children, in the North Caucasus town.
In the Beslan gymnasium, photographs of the children who were killed hung from walls below charred timbers and the remains of two basketball hoops.
Many lit candles, while others placed bottled water at the base of the walls - a reference to the fact that the hostages went three days without food or water.
Many were forced to drink their own urine during the siege.
Relatives and prominent human rights activists say the September 3 rescue operation went horribly awry, with many victims dying from crossfire, accidental explosions and possibly even heavy weaponry such as flame-throwers wielded by federal forces.
Officials say the explosion that sparked the maelstrom on the third day were set off accidentally by the militants themselves.
But relatives of the dead say government snipers may have killed one of the militants holding a bomb trigger, setting off a cascade of violence.
The only attacker known to have survived, Nur-Pashi Kulayev, was sentenced to life in prison in 2006.
The Beslan attack shook Russia deeply and prompted then-President Vladimir Putin to push through sweeping changes to the country's electoral system, tightening the Kremlin's grip on power.
A recent upsurge in violence across Russia's North Caucasus, however has undermined the Kremlin's claims it is bringing stability to the region.
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