Azeri police break up opposition rally

Reuters/Baku

Opposition activists hold a rally in Baku. Azerbaijan police detained more than 30 activists of the opposition Musavat Party when its members took to the street of Baku yesterday to protest against the ruling elite following a similar rally a day before

Azerbaijani police detained more than 50 supporters of the opposition Musavat Party protesting against the ruling party in the capital Baku yesterday.

Azerbaijan, an energy supplier to Europe and a transit route for US troops in Afghanistan, has been ruled by one family for nearly two decades since Soviet veteran Heydar Aliyev came to power in 1993. He was succeeded by his son Ilham in 2003.

Some 200 members of Musavat gathered at Fountains Square in central Baku to stage a rally, which the party said had been banned by the authorities as it would disrupt traffic.

The party staged its first street protest after parliamentary elections in November when opposition parties failed to win a single seat.

Police said around 150 people took part in the protest yesterday and 20 demonstrators face prosecution.

Demonstrators shouted "Resign!” and "Freedom!” before security servicemen began detaining at least 30 including Arif Gadzhily, Musavat’s chief of staff.

The opposition vowed to continue anti-government rallies.

"I believe the rally was a success. We will continue to stage protests against the authorities as we want to achieve radical changes in the country,” the Musavat leader, Isa Gambar, told Reuters adding that the police detained around 100 people.

Police said they were trying to keep order at the square.

On Friday, security forces detained 43 people after anti-government activists used social media to call for street protests in the oil-producing Muslim state.

The Friday rally, inspired by small groups of young people, shouting anti-government rhetoric, was unrelated to the Musavat action but the party members said they supported it.

Activists, inspired by a wave of protests across North Africa and the Middle East, vowed to stage more demonstrations.

Six other people have been detained on various charges in the Caspian Sea nation since early February, when the "Great People’s Day” campaign was launched on Facebook and Twitter.

The opposition activists sent out more than 35,000 invitations for people to support the anti-government group on Facebook and more than 3,000 clicked the "I’m attending” button to support the Friday action.

Human Rights Watch called on the authorities to immediately release the all the detained.

"Rounding people up this way is wrong and counter-productive,” it quoted Rachel Denber, director of the Europe and Central Asia Division at Human Rights Watch, in a statement.