By empty (6/2/2005 issue of the CACI Analyst)

Baku municipal authorities rejected on 2 June a request by three opposition parties to stage a rally and march on 4 June in the city center but gave the green light for holding the event at a motorcycle racetrack on the outskirts of the city. Deputy Baku police chief Yashar Aliev summoned the organizers of the planned rally to warn them that police would intervene to prevent it being held in the original venue, but the three parties subsequently issued a statement reaffirming their intention to congregate as originally planned at the 28 May metro station, the site of a similar rally that was broken up by police two weeks ago. (Turan).