Government News: Top Stories

Riot police break up Azerbaijan protest
by Aida Sultanova

The Associated Press Translate This Article
26 November 2005

BAKU, Azerbaijan (AP) - Truncheon-wielding police in riot gear beat opposition protesters who gathered in Azerbaijan's capital shouting ``Freedom!'' and demanding a redo of disputed parliamentary elections.

Some 15,000 opposition activists rallied in Baku to protest the outcome of the Nov. 6 parliamentary elections, which they claimed were rigged. The rally was the latest in a series of opposition protests.

When the demonstrators tried to set up a permanent protest on a square in downtown Baku, police rushed in to disperse them. Some protesters, including women, were beaten while lying on the floor. Others threw stones at police, who protected themselves with shields.

Authorities rushed in after demonstrators said they were going to hold a permanent protest in a downtown square. Hundreds of soldiers, police and plainclothes police agents pushed protesters away from the square, shattered a stand used by opposition leaders and broke the opposition's orange banners—a color borrowed from Ukraine's Orange Revolution.

Baku's deputy police chief, Yashar Aliev, said 18 officers were injured in the clash and 29 rally participants were detained.

Opposition leaders said scores of protesters were beaten and many were badly injured. Police also used water cannons to drive protesters away from a nearby street.

``They used force against a peaceful rally without any prior notice,'' said Ali Kerimli, head of the Popular Front, one of the parties in the Azadliq opposition bloc that organized the protest. ``Today Azerbaijani authorities showed their real face.''

Opposition parties originally planned to hold the rally Sunday but rescheduled it after failing to secure permission from authorities in Baku. When the rally exceeded the two-hour time limit imposed by the government, police intervened.

International observers have criticized the Nov. 6 polls, saying they fell below democratic standards. But Western countries concerned about maintaining stability in the oil-rich Caspian Sea state bordering Iran have not endorsed opposition demands for repeat elections.

Regular opposition protests fostered expectations that Azerbaijan was heading to a popular uprising like those that brought opposition leaders to power in fellow former Soviet bloc nations of Georgia, Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan.

But faced with an authoritarian government led by President Ilham Aliev, the opposition has failed to capitalize on resentment over corruption that has helped keep more than 40 percent of people in poverty despite the nation's oil wealth.

The opposition rallies have attracted less than 20,000 people—far less than hoped for—because of harsh official restrictions on demonstrations, widespread public apathy and the opposition's weakness.

Kerimli said the opposition would stage another rally next Saturday.

Copyright© 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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