April 16, 2014
BOSTON: Boston paid solemn tribute Tuesday to the victims and survivors of the marathon bombings that traumatized the northeastern US city and stunned the nation one year ago.
April 16, 2014
BOSTON: Boston paid solemn tribute Tuesday to the victims and survivors of the marathon bombings that traumatized the northeastern US city and stunned the nation one year ago.
Survivors, officials, first responders and guests pause as the flag is raised at the finish line during a tribute in honor of the one year anniversary of the Boston Marathon bombings, Tuesday, April 15, 2014 in Boston.
Three people were killed and more than 260 others wounded when two pressure cooker bombs detonated near the finish line of the city's famous marathon on April 15, 2013.
The attacks were allegedly carried out by two brothers of Chechen descent who had lived in the United States for years.
Vice President Joe Biden led an emotional and highly-charged tribute at the Hynes Convention Center just steps from the scene of the attack in the heart of the city of nearly one million.
"You have become the face of America's resolve not unlike what happened on 9/11," he told the survivors, families of the victims and emergency workers who responded to the attacks.
When this year's marathon takes place on Monday, Biden said it would send a message "not just to the rest of the world but to the terrorists that we will never yield, we will never cower.
"America will never ever ever stand down. We are Boston. We are America. We respond. We endure. We overcome. And we own the finish line. God bless you all and may God protect our troops."
Boston will observe a moment of silence at 2:49 pm (1849 GMT), the time when the first bomb exploded, and then church bells will toll across the northeastern city.
In Washington, President Barack Obama is to observe a moment of silence privately with aides in the Oval Office.
Obama sent thoughts and prayers to those struggling to recover, and paid tribute to the "incredible courage and leadership of so many Bostonians in the wake of unspeakable tragedy."
"We offer our deepest gratitude to the courageous firefighters, police officers, medical professionals, runners and spectators who, in an instant, displayed the spirit Boston was built on — perseverance, freedom and love," he said in a statement.
The two bombs sent metal fragments flying through the crowd. Several of the wounded lost limbs.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who is now 20, and his 26-year-old brother Tamerlan were identified thanks to pictures and video footage and eventually cornered by police after a four-day manhunt that paralyzed the city.
Tamerlan died after an exchange of fire with police, and Dzhokhar was wounded and captured. The younger Tsarnaev, a naturalized US citizen, will go on trial in November and could face the death penalty if convicted.
This year, the Boston Marathon — which has been run since 1897 — takes place on Monday, April 21.
Organizers have allowed thousands more runners to register — from about 27,000 in recent years to 36,000 this year, not far off the record 38,708 who entered in 1996 in the 100th marathon.
Security has been bolstered in the wake of the attacks, with more police on the streets, a "no-bag policy", and glass bottles and large containers of any kind banned from the area.
The Tsarnaev brothers allegedly hid the explosive devices in backpacks. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev has pleaded not guilty to 30 federal charges related to the bombings, including 17 serious charges that can carry sentences of death or life in prison.
The charges include using a weapon of mass destruction resulting in death, as well as conspiracy and bombing of a place of public use resulting in death, and carjacking.
Tsarnaev is also charged in connection with the fatal shooting of a campus police officer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology during the brothers' wild getaway attempt.
Courtesy: AFP
