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Sunday, 19 June 2005

OPPOSITION RALLY IN AZERBAIJANI CAPITAL

Published in News Digest

By empty (6/19/2005 issue of the CACI Analyst)

Some 20,000 people have marched in Azerbaijan\'s capital Baku demanding free and fair elections and calling for the president to resign. It is the second time in the past two weeks that Azerbaijan\'s government has allowed the opposition to hold a rally. It was organised by three leading opposition parties which form the the Azadlig or Freedom bloc.
Some 20,000 people have marched in Azerbaijan\'s capital Baku demanding free and fair elections and calling for the president to resign. It is the second time in the past two weeks that Azerbaijan\'s government has allowed the opposition to hold a rally. It was organised by three leading opposition parties which form the the Azadlig or Freedom bloc. And as the race for the November parliamentary poll heats up, the opposition says it will stage more. There was a sea of orange flags and T-shirts as thousands of demonstrators filled Baku\'s main square. Police in riot gear encircled the rally and some people said they were stopped from entering the square. All the same, young people in orange headbands gave flowers to the policemen to show their protest was peaceful. This is what activists in Azerbaijan have learned from Ukraine\'s so-called orange revolution and a peaceful revolution is what many of them say they will push for if the government fails to ensure that the November poll is free and fair. (BBC)
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