Azernews.Az

BAKU – Riot police on Saturday thwarted the hardline opposition’s attempt to stage an antigovernment rally in downtown Baku.

Protesters chanting "Resign!" and "Freedom!" demanded democratic reform and freedom of speech.

Police shut down the central Fountain Square and roads leading to the square were blocked by police buses.

Hundreds of protesters gathered near the square before security services cleared the area.

The police, armed with batons, arrested dozens of protesters as they tried to reach Fountain Square, including women, and forced them into buses.

The windows of several nearby stores and facilities were broken during the protest, in what the opposition leaders claimed was "the authorities’ provocation."

The interior ministry said in a statement that 25 vehicles owned by people and businesses as well as the police were damaged, and the windows of 17 stores and a bank office were broken.

13 police officers were injured in the clashes with protesters, the ministry said.

Five suspects were detained during the unauthorized protest, while 70 others were given administrative sentences over violating public order, it said.

But the opposition argued that more than 200 protesters were detained. Head of Musavat’s Executive Office Arif Hajili, who was among them, was ordered held in detention for two months by a Baku court on Monday. 13 of the detainees were sentenced to three to eight days in detention, reports said.

The rally was organized by the Public Chamber umbrella opposition group. The group had applied for a permit to rally in the central square, but the request was denied. They were told to rally at a location on the city's outskirts.

City police officials said last Friday that opposition leaders and protest organizers were summoned and told to hold their rally only in the designated area.

Interior Minister Ramil Usubov had called on people not to join the hardline opposition’s unauthorized rallies. Usubov noted that such illegal acts are countered harshly "in all civilized countries of the world."

"We cannot allow anyone to create problems or cast a shadow on the Azerbaijani people’s desire to live in a democratic society. The Azerbaijani state has ample potential and power, and the main point is that our citizens are strongly opposed to such actions," he told the state television channel AzTV last Thursday.

Ahead of Saturday’s antigovernment rally, several youth and opposition activists were detained. 13 activists were given administrative sentences lasting several days for violating public order or resisting police, according to the Public Chamber.

Dozens of people were detained earlier this month after opposition activists turned out for two unsanctioned protests on March 11 and 12.

Inspired by popular uprisings in Arab countries, Azerbaijani opposition leaders said that more antigovernment rallies would follow. The Public Chamber decided on Monday to hold its next rally on April 16.

Ali Karimli, the leader of Azerbaijan Popular Front Party, told Radio Liberty that despite police pressure "people could express their protest" on Saturday.

Musavat Party leader Isa Gambar said Baku residents joined the rally, and this "proved our predictions that the April 2 protest wasn't going to be only an opposition protest, it appeared to be a protest by all the people."

Officials, however, insist it is unlikely that popular revolts will take place in Azerbaijan.

Ali Hasanov, head of the presidential administration's social and political affairs department, told local media that no more than a few hundred would join the opposition rallies.

"Once opposition activists tried to become like Georgians, Ukrainians, or Kyrgyz, but couldn't. Now they have decided to become like Arabs," Hasanov said. "It all shows how miserable the Azerbaijani opposition is."

He said the opposition should try to compete in the 2013 presidential election instead.

Rauf Garagyozov, an analyst with the Azerbaijan Center for Strategic Research, said that the center’s research suggests that Azerbaijan’s multi-faceted development, the government’s increased anti-corruption combat and the improving living standards of citizens "significantly diminish" the opposition’s popular support.