Moscow to remember Dubrovka hostage-taking victims

Moscow will commemorate the 12th anniversary of the Dubrovka hostage-taking crisis on Sunday.
On October 23, 2002, terrorists took almost a thousand people hostage at the Nord-Ost musical.
A memorial meeting will start with a minute of silence outside the theatre center at 10:00 Moscow time, the mayor’s office reported. One hundred thirty white balloons - by the number of dead victims - will be released into the sky. Wreaths will be laid at the memorial plaque. A requiem and a memorial service will be held afterwards.
The commemorations are being held on the initiative of a public organization for protection of the Nord-Ost victims. Muscovites and victims of other terrorist acts, their relatives and family members, representatives of the Moscow authorities, public and youth organizations and Moscow schoolchildren will attend the memorial ceremony.
Forty terrorists burst into the Dubrovka theatre center in the evening on October 23, 2002. They took 914 people hostage, including the actors of the Nort-Ost musical, and the audience. A hostage-release operation started early on October 26. The Dubrovka hostage-taking was the biggest terrorist act in Moscow that claimed the lives 130 hostages, including 10 children. Sixty-nine children were orphaned.