The Azerbaijani interior forces arrested over 100 anti-governmental protesters during a two-day rally in Baku inspired by the Middle East uprisings. Despite the crackdown, activists believe that it is just a start and that street protests will continue.
A group of youth activists encouraged by the successful overthrow of the authoritarian leaders in Tunisia and Egypt called for peaceful protests via Facebook in “all cities” of oil-rich Azerbaijan on March 11. For this purpose, six activists created the Facebook page “11 March - Great People's Day”, which is supported by over 4,000 users.
“5 persons, 10 persons, 100 persons, 1,000 persons … It does not matter … Are you ready to come together to push the dictator regime of Azerbaijan into silence in a civil and sabotage-free way?!”, the activists addressed the users. “The nation’s power is a torrent’s power. We believe, you also believe. Our Freedom is near!”
At noon on March 11, one month after President Mubarak was ousted after 18 days of protest in Egypt, Azerbaijani youth activists rallied in downtown Baku with the slogans “Be free!”, “Freedom” and “Resign”.
However, the attempt to conduct a rally in the square faced a police crackdown. Security forces, including police and dozens of people in civilian clothing, filled the square in the morning, awaiting the activists’ gathering. As soon as they arrived, the police detained them one by one and placed them in patrol cars headed for various police stations.
According to an official statement of the Ministry of Interior, up to 100 people attempted to gather on a central square in Baku for unauthorized demonstrations. As a result of “preventive measures”, 43 persons were detained. 23 out of these were sent to court, charged with disturbing public order.
Most of the activists are not members of any political party. According to Socialbakers.com, a Facebook traffic-tracking website, Azerbaijan’s number of Facebook users grew by about 5 percent last month reaching 324,880 people, more than three-quarters of whom are between 18 and 34 years old.
On the same day, another attempt to demonstrate was made on Fountain Square of downtown Baku, where protesters demanded the release of their comrades who were detained before the rallies. Before March 11, about 30 youth activists involved in the creation of the Facebook page and distributing leaflets had been arrested.
One of page’s co-organizers, Bakhtiyar Hajiyev, 29, was arrested on March 4 and will be held in pretrial detention for a month for violating an order not to leave the city of Ganja while previous charges of evading military service are investigated.
Hajiyev, alumni of the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, managed to send a letter from jail where he said that he was insulted and threatened to be raped by a high-ranking policeman. He has started a “death” hunger strike. “It is better to live one day in dignity than 40 years as a slave” were his last words in his letter from jail.
On March 12, the baton was picked up by youth belonging to the opposition parties People’s Front and Musavat. Protesters arrived at Fountain Square shouting anti-government slogans such as “Resign”, “Freedom” and “Ilham Aliyev is the biggest corruptionist”. A large number of police officers with truncheons immediately cracked down on the rally that brought together about 200 activists.
“Despite the crackdown, today's demonstration is historic, it marks the start of a democratic movement in Azerbaijan”, Musavat leader Isa Gambar said. “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”.
Mubariz Qurbanli, a member of the governing New Azerbaijan Party, said the low turnout on Friday proved that the people of Azerbaijan did not support the opposition. According to him, “the Azerbaijani people support the policy of the President and wants stability and welfare, which the current authorities are providing and no foreign scenarios can break the stability in the country”.
Meanwhile, protests continue. On March 14, an area of Baku State University, the biggest in Azerbaijan, was surrounded by police and the road to the university was temporarily blocked by police cars. The APA news agency reported that the police had received information about preparations for a rally among university students, and security forces were sent to suppress the unsanctioned action. Nobody was allowed to gather and nobody was detained.
Youth activists believe that the recent repressions demonstrate that the government is very nervous about the potential of the recent unrest in the Middle East. In addition, the arrests of young activists brought even more international attention to developments in Azerbaijan.