According to BBC News the police in Azerbaijan have beaten and arrested dozens of protesters during a rally in the capital, Baku, on 25 September. The Interior Ministry said the rally was not sanctioned and protesters had been warned that force would be used. (29-SEPT-05).
Opposition supporters defied the authorities and tried to hold the demonstration ahead of the Parliamentary elections set for November. According to BBC it started as a peaceful march, the latest in a series of rallies calling for free and fair elections. Police in riot gear blocked off the roads leading to Baku’s main Freedom square, infamous from the post-election protests of October 2003, during which Azeri Police killed at least one person, injured many and arrested approximately 600. many of these weretortured during interrogation. This was where thousands of demonstrators had planned to meet again last Sunday.
Mass arrests
As one of the main opposition leaders, Isa Gambar, tried to join the protest, police ran up to his car and smashed its windows. Dozens of people, some with blood on their faces, were thrown into buses and driven away. The opposition says more than 100 of the supporters were arrested. The official number is 20. The chief of Baku police, addressing media after the event, denied reports of injuries and said the organisers had been warned well in advance not to proceed with the unsanctioned rally.
Detention of youth activists
–The police detain youth activists every day, the coordinator of the Magam movement Emin Huseynov, says to HRH. Emin Huseynov, who attended the HRH regional workshops in Baku the 7-9 September was beaten by police on 23 September. He participated in a peaceful protest against the detention of the deputy chairman of the youth organisation “Yeni Fikir”, when, according to TURAN, an independent Azeri news agency, tens of policemen attacked the 30 youth activists. -The police is accusing us of hooliganism, but for no reason, Emin Huseynov says. According to Huseynov, ten of the Magam youth activists were detained from the 23-25 September. Opposition leaders say they are trying to negotiate the release of the arrested activists.
Attacks on journalists
After police assaulted four journalists at the banned 25 September demonstration, Reporters Sans Frontieres has urged Interior Minister Ramil Usubov to do his utmost to protect journalists in the run-up to elections. The journalists – Mahabbat Orujeva, Rei Kerimoglu, Sakit Mamedov and Zohrab Zeynalov – were covering a rally called by the opposition group Azadlig, once again to demand free and fair elections on 6 November. Mamedov, a reporter with the weekly “Avropa”, was beaten by the police despite holding up his press card. A photographer with the Azer-Press agency, Zeynalov was beaten while he attempted to take pictures of police officers running after and attacking demonstrators, about 100 of whom were arrested, organisers said.
