Azernews.Az

A group of Azerbaijani staunchly opposition Musavat party’s activists attempted to hold an unauthorized protest in Baku on Wednesday, demanding what they called reinstating their right to assemble freely and the conduct of fair elections.
At around noon, the protesters gathering near the Icherisheher subway station downtown tried to advance toward the Mayor’s Office building, chanting slogans "Freedom" and "Musavat", but they were blocked by police officers and people in civilian clothes. Some of the protesters were detained, our correspondent says.
Representatives of the OSCE Baku office watched the entire protest.
Deputy chief of the Baku police department, Yashar Aliyev, has told reporters that he had met with lawmakers representing Musavat prior to the protest.
"I warned them about today’s action being unlawful. They were told that the Baku City Executive Authority has allocated eleven venues in the capital for holding protests, in accordance with the Law on Freedom of Assembly. They can apply any time and hold protests in those places."
Asked about the civilians who helped to disperse the protest, Aliyev said they were police officers as well.
"The police wore uniforms. There could have been just two or three operations officers in civilian clothes."
The deputy police chief confirmed that five or six protesters had been detained and taken to a police precinct.
Musavat claimed, however, that over 40 activists were detained. Most of them have been released.*