15,000 Join Anti-terror Demo In Saint Petersburg

SAINT PETERSBURG, Sept 6 (AFP) - Around 15,000 people observed a minute of silence here Monday in a demonstration to remember the hundreds of victims of Russia`s school hostage crisis and to demand an end to terrorism.
The protesters, most of them young people, carried Russian flags and placards bearing slogans including "No to Terrorism" and "Death to the Killers of Children".
The protest on Saint Petersburg`s Palace Square also heard a children`s choir sing Ave Maria while images of hostage-taking incidents carried out in Russia in recent years were broadcast on two large screens.
In Moscow meanwhile authorities made preparations for a mass meeting scheduled for Tuesday near the Kremlin, also planned as a remembrance for the victims of the school hostage disaster and a protest against terrorism.
The state-run Rossiya television network on Monday broadcast an announcement of the demonstration, showing the time and location on the screen for around one minute as stirring music played in the background.