AZERBAIJAN: Police break up opposition protest in Baku

Record ID: 218522

  • Title: AZERBAIJAN: Police break up opposition protest in Baku
  • Date: 26th November 2005
  • Summary: MEN PILING UP SHOES, FLAGS ON THE SQUARE SQUARE SEALED OFF BY THE POLICE SOLDIER WITH DOG
  • Embargoed: 11th December 2005 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Azerbaijan
  • Country: Azerbaijan
  • Topics: Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA553FZDYZ3E6TJ8RIC5PP4TNCH
  • Story Text: Police in Azerbaijan's capital used truncheons and a
    water canons to break up a protest on Saturday (November
    26) by opposition supporters complaining of vote fraud in
    an election earlier this month.
    The scene of the clashes in the outskirts of Baku was
    calm after police rounded up dozens of protesters, some of
    them with blood coming from head wounds, and dispersed the
    rest. Several ambulances were at the scene.
    There had been brief pitched battles after police moved
    in to break up a rally of about 10,000 people and some
    protesters fought back with stones and pieces of wood as
    they were driven down the surrounding streets.
    Police intervened when the time the authorities had
    allocated for the rally ran out, but demonstrators refused
    to leave the square.
    One of the leaders of the main Azadlyq opposition bloc
    told Reuters by phone that a lot of people had been hurt
    and that police started beating up unarmed people who were
    peacefully protesting.
    Opposition parties have been holding frequent
    demonstrations since a parliamentary election on November 6
    that Western observers said was marred by vote fraud. The
    protests until now were peaceful.
    The vote handed a big majority in parliament to
    supporters of President Ilham Aliyev, who succeeded his
    father Haydar in an election in 2003. That vote was also
    followed by violent clashes between police and opposition supporters.
    Azerbaijan, a Muslim ex-Soviet state which borders
    Russia and Iran, supplies growing volumes of oil to world
    markets from its fields in the Caspian Sea.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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