'Azadlig' Held Mass Action of Protest in Baku: Photo Session
BAKU. April 26, 2010: Today, ‘Azadlig’/'Freedom' alliance of opposition parties held an authorized picketing in front of the Mayoral Administration of Baku. Protesters from Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan (PFPA), Liberal Party, Citizen and Development Party poured into the streets of Baku in the city center chanting the slogans ‘Freedom,’ “Free Elections,” “Resignation.” Click for video The police and the paramilitary thugs in civilian cloths attacked the demonstrators dragging them into the police vans. About 100 people were detained in this manner, many of them later released.
By the end of the day, Ehsan Zahidov, the spokesman from the Ministry of Interior, said the police would officially persecute 10 of the detained protesters imposing administrative penalties on them. ‘Azadlig’ bloc protests against the violation of the right to freedom of assembly by the Mayoral Administration of Baku which has assumed the powers of allowing or disallowing public gatherings in the city without any legal powers to exercise such authority (Azerireport).