Tens of thousands of Russians, Muslims and non-Muslims, denounce terror (AFP)

By Damir Ahmad, IOL Correspondent

MOSCOW, September 8 (IslamOnline.net) – Up to 40,000 Russian Muslims took part Tuesday, September 7, in a nationwide rally in protest at the hostage-taking school tragedy in the southern city of Beslan that claimed the lives of hundreds of people, mostly children.

In Moscow, the anguished protesters stood still for a moment of silence on the Red Square in memory of the victims of Beslan and the two Russian airliners that crashed south of Moscow on August 25, killing 90 people aboard.

The demonstrators, who reached 15,000 people, waved banners reading: “Terror-free Russia”, “Real human beings do not target children”, “Keep your hands off our children” and “All Russians make it clear: We are against terrorism”.

The mass rally was called for by the Russian television Monday, September 6 and was organized by a pro-government trade union.

It came as the residents of grief-stricken Beslan held a third day of funerals for at last the 336 victims.

All but one of the 32 hostage-takers and at least 336 people, half of them children, died after Russian troops stormed the school Friday, September 3.

The Russian government has admitted that it lied to its people about the scale of the crisis.

‘Not Muslims’

A girl holds a poster which reads "Only cowards fight with kids"

The deputy chief of Russia’s Council of Muftis, Izzatullah Damir Hezrat, said the perpetrators of the “terrorist hostage-takers have nothing to do with Islam”.

“They are not Muslims at all, rather they are criminals,” Hezrat told the crowd massing at the Red Square.

“Those who killed innocent people, not to mention children, are doomed to the Hellfire. They wanted to spark a religious strife in the Caucasus. But their malicious schemes would prove futile as the entire Russian people stand united against terrorism.”

He said hundreds of Muslims representing their community in Russia performed funeral prayers Tuesday in solidarity with the victims’ families and leave the impression that they do feel for them.

“We will be missing you and always remember you in our prayers,” Hezrat added.

The Council of Muftis has already condemned the tragedy as “a terrorist act that Islam totally refuses and forbids”.

The religious council for North Caucasian Muslims said the hostage taking is “a heinous terrorist crime” that inflicted pain and suffering on families of the hostages.