Plans to build a memorial to the 333 hostages killed three years ago in the Beslan school siege have sparked a row between Christians and Muslims in Russia.
The local Russian Orthodox diocese says it will build a church in the grounds of Beslan's school No. 1 to commemorate the victims -- half of them children -- killed in a clash between insurgents and Russian troops. But one of Russia's leading Muslim clerics has accused the Orthodox church of trying to hijack a national tragedy by building a memorial that he said would exclude the more than 20 million Muslims who live in the country.
"It is not acceptable to present this tragedy as the tragedy of followers of only one religion," Sheikh Ravil Gainutdin, chairman of the Council of Russian Muftis, said in a statement.
| "After all, citizens of one religion died in the tragedy, and citizens of another religion created the tragedy. So you see, more than one religion was involved!" he added. |
"We need a monument on this site that symbolizes a national tragedy, without any religious undertones, where everyone can come and shed their tears." Gainutdin is an outspoken Muslim leader in Russia, and other senior clerics have not spoken out about the memorial plans.
But the row has exposed faultlines between the communities which, despite a conflict between Moscow and rebels in Muslim Chechnya, have had largely smooth relations. Russia is home to the biggest Muslim community in Europe. Wrangling over the memorial could also aggravate already raw divisions between Muslims and Christians in the volatile North Caucasus region that includes Beslan.
The local Russian Orthodox diocese said it plans to build the church next to the school sports hall, the spot where many of the hostages died after a bomb fixed to a basketball hoop went off, triggering a massive gunbattle.
A spokesman for the diocese said a church was the memorial that the people of Beslan had chosen. "It is not a case of someone coming along and taking this decision. It is the decision of the people who were hostages and whose children died ... and it should be respected," said spokesman Yevgeny Bronsky. Asked about Muslims' reaction to the plan he said: "We have not noticed this issue dividing anyone in Beslan."
The administration of the North Ossetia region, of which Beslan is a part, contradicted the church, saying consultations on what form the memorial would take were still being conducted. "The people of Beslan ... will review the proposed options and will make the final choice," it said in a statement.
Since the tragedy, the wrecked shell of the sports hall has become a makeshift shrine, with candles on the floor and photographs of the victims pinned to the walls. Some victims' relatives say it should be preserved as a permanent memorial. 
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