AZERBAIJAN: Azeri police thwart opposition efforts to stage an unsanctioned rally in central Baku
Record ID:
214525
AZERBAIJAN: Azeri police thwart opposition efforts to stage an unsanctioned rally in central Baku
- Title: AZERBAIJAN: Azeri police thwart opposition efforts to stage an unsanctioned rally in central Baku
- Date: 24th October 2005
- Summary: AZERBAIJAN (OCTOBER 23, 2005) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF RIOT POLICE CLASHING WITH OPPOSITION SUPPORTERS IN CENTRAL BAKU RIOT POLICE PUSHING AWAY OPPOSITION SUPPORTERS / OPPOSITION SUPPORTERS RUNNING AWAY, POLICE FOLLOWING POLICE BEATING WITH RUBBER BATONS MAN LAYING ON THE GROUND OPPOSITION LEADER ALI KERIMLI BEING LED AWAY BY HIS BODYGUARDS AND SUPPORTERS AND PUT IN TO THE CAR / POLICE FOLLOWING KERIMLI POLICEMAN CHASING AN OPPOSITION SUPPORTER WOMEN WITH ORANGE SCARVES BREAKING THROUGH POLICE LINE POLICEMEN LEADING A DETAINED MAN AND PUSHING HIM INTO POLICE VAN / ANOTHER DETAINED OPPOSITION SUPPORTER SHOUTING FROM THE VAN "FREE ELECTIONS" OPPOSITION SUPPORTER LAYING ON THE GROUND SURROUNDED BY POLICE AND PRESS VARIOUS OF POLICE CLASHING WITH OPPOSITION SUPPORTERS POLICE LEADING AWAY DETAINED OPPOSITION SUPPORTER POLICE ADVANCING
- Embargoed: 8th November 2005 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Azerbaijan
- Country: Azerbaijan
- Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement,Domestic Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA9OVPXGKOK57TA3RIPF7KRF5GO
- Story Text: Azeri police thwarted the efforts of the opposition to stage an unsanctioned rally in central Baku on Sunday (October 23). Since early hours the centre of the Azeri capital was sealed off by the police. Opposition supporters who started gathering in three main squares in central Baku were met by the police in riot gear.<
Hundreds protesters, shouting "Free elections", clashed with baton-yielding police which prevented them from staging a rally.<
Tens of opposition supporters were detained and put into police vans.<
Leader of the opposition Ali Kerimli, who showed up at one of the squares, was greeted by his supporters and quickly led away by his bodyguards after a group of policemen started chasing him along the street.<
The rally was part of a series of protests for the run-up to the November 6 parliamentary elections.<
Protesters said they wanted fair elections and more freedoms.<
Azerbaijan's opposition is being closely watched at home and abroad to see if the trend toward "velvet" revolutions will take hold in this former Soviet Union republic. In recent months massive protests, by opponents, unseated long-term leaders in Georgia and Ukraine.<
President Ilham Aliyev, who took over the presidency from his father in 2003, has warned rivals they have no chance of coming to power on the back of popular protests.<
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