Reporting
Deadly attack in Moscow: national mourning in Russia, and questions
Russia observed, this Sunday, March 24, a day of mourning after the massacre that occurred Friday in a concert hall near the capital and which left at least 137 dead according to a latest official report. Muscovites continue to flock to the memorial near Crocus City Hall, and the queues to donate blood are growing, sometimes waiting almost an hour in the rain.
People place flowers and toys near the site of Friday's attack, near Moscow, this Sunday, March 24, 2024. AP - Vitaly Smolnikov
By: Anissa El Jabri Follow
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From our correspondent in Moscow,
“
You can take a bus in five minutes to go to another blood donation center.
» On the loudspeaker, a volunteer passes the message along a queue in front of a hospital in western Moscow. To this crowd waiting in silence this Sunday morning, some offer rain capes to protect themselves from spring showers, others help fill out a form.
Just outside the entrance, two brothers are standing behind a table, with cakes, cups and water, which is constantly heating to offer tea and coffee. “
I came to give blood yesterday
,” said one of them.
I waited in line, then I was told it was going to close. The weather was already bad, people were standing in the rain, feeling cold. As I work in catering, I figured I had everything I needed, a kettle and everything else. So this morning I loaded up my car, took my goods to the hospital, asked who the administrator was and told him I had brought tea, coffee etc.
»
I was told “sure, stay here”, and they helped me unload and get set up, and they also gave me electricity. I came with my brother who had time to donate blood. I haven't had the chance yet, but I have filled out the form, and I will come back another day to do it.
Shock, fear, anxiety and sadness can be read on the faces, emotions which are also confessed at the RFI microphone. In line with their president, who brushed aside the warnings transmitted publicly, notably by the United States Embassy on Friday March 8, a 42-year-old accountant specifies: “I didn't
think that that could happen. Now I'm not afraid to go out into the street, but I worry, especially for my daughter. Something changed, as if the feeling of security I had always had was no longer there.
»
The streets of the capital have never been so empty, and it is not only because all sporting and cultural gatherings have been suspended. The concern remains palpable, and it is only in front of establishments where you can donate blood that you meet people. They remain under close surveillance with police cars, armed men and in bulletproof vests.
“
I'm absolutely not afraid,”
assures a man in the queue.
And I hope that this will increasingly be the case for others. Because the aim of any terrorist attack is to sow fear among the population. So if we unite, and if we fight against our anxiety, this attack will not achieve its objective.
»
Calls to lift moratorium on death penalty in Russia
How will those in power react to Friday evening's attack on the domestic scene? Several executives of
Vladimir Putin
's regime increased calls this weekend for the lifting of the moratorium on the death penalty put in place in 1996. But even when anger dominates, when we feel in unison with a power which repeatedly promises severe punishment for the authors and sponsors, the initiative receives a certain skepticism.
“
At this moment, we are first of all focused on our mourning
”, “
this debate is complicated and delicate
”, “
I will not link the emotional events of recent days to such serious legislative changes
”, we said. heard among those interviewed by RFI this Sunday to support the approach. Perhaps also because in
Russia
, everyone knows, justice has a very heavy hand: going to trial means 99% – official statistics – being convicted. Russia has also described many organizations as "
extremist ", such as
Alexei Navalny
's movement
, or "
the international LGBT movement
", whose courts have not indicated which organizations or individuals it is targeting.
People lay flowers in memory of the victims of the Moscow attack in Saint Petersburg, this Sunday, March 24, 2024. AP - Dmitri Lovetsky
The official story indicating Ukraine
's responsibility
for Friday's attack seems, at least for the moment, to have difficulty getting traction with everyone. Even if we often hear, a classic phrase in Russia, "
I don't see why our president would lie to us
", while no one in power and in the official media talks about ISIS
,
or the very violent video of claim which circulated on social networks, including on the most viewed Telegram channels in nationalist circles.
When the comments are not deactivated, we can certainly read, in tune with what we hear in television broadcasts, "
I'm angry, why isn't Kiev burning again?"
» But we also find, under this video, comments which question security in Moscow, “
a city with 25,000 surveillance cameras
”, or going so far as to ask this question: “
Why can we, in Russia today today, arrest in a few minutes someone who shouts “
no to war”
, and not prevent such an attack?
» This is also the question asked by what remains of the opposition in the country.
To rereadRussia: uninterrupted parade of Muscovites to pay tribute to the victims of the attack
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