On the 9-th of November there took place the big manifestation of supporters of “Azadlig” Bloc in the route from “January 20” metro station towards “Galaba” cinema. Thousands of opposition supporters made the huge people’s flow toward the Galaba. In addition to united Azadlig Bloc, the national Unanimity party and the “Yeni Siyaset” bloc joined to the protest action. The participation of young people in the protest action is noteworthy. The rally was watched by hundreds of international journalists and representatives of international organizations (09-NOV-2005).
According to Turan Information Agency, the approximate number of participants was 50,000 people. The leaders and activists of Isa Qambar, Serdar Calaloglu, Ali Kerimli, Arif Haciyev, Panah Huseynov , Rauf Arifoglu as well as the leaders of Liberal Party Lala Shovket and Avaz teymurxan, the founder of “Yeni Siyaset Bloc” – Eldar namazov, the widow of murdered journalist Elmar Huseynov – Rovshana Huseynova, the religious leader and the head of DEVAMM Haci Ilgar ibrahimoglu, representatives of intelligentsia Ramiz Rovshan, Mehriban Vezir, Flora Kerimova and many others made speeches on the tribune. The main message of the demonstration was to show the protest of people of Azerbaijan against the stolen election and their determination to restore their violated rights. The demonstrators used the slogans “Freedom”, “Resignation” and “Tents to Square” (meaning the intention to stay for days and nights on the square to defend their rights). On the rally there were noticed the flags of Ukraine and the Russian Federation with the stickers of Azadlig.
Police and restrictions
Since morning there was received numerous info about the detains of opposition activists by police in many Azerbaijani regions without any reasons. At the entrances to Baku police placed posts to detain people arriving to the capital, if they are suspected of an intention to join today´s demonstration. The roads to the cinema Galaba were blocked by police too. The people were reported to have had problems at metro stations “20 January” and “Inshaatchilar”, which are close to the rally venue.
Besides, from the afternoon there was received numerous information from the universities about the restrictions the students faced from the faculty administration. For example, according to Turan, the administration of Baku State University warned students and teachers about their expulsion for participation at opposition demonstration. Besides, in many of the universities of Baku there were organized unexpected events / meetings until 16:00 p.m., in order to keep the youth participation away from the rally, which was planned for 15:00 p.m. At the same time, the faculty administrators made a call for the students to attend the rally of the ruling party, which was held on the 10-th of November. The students of numerous universities reported to the coordinator of Human Rights House that the deans, deputy deans and other administrators of the universities threat the students with having serious problems during examination, in case they are not registered on the day of rally of the ruling party.
