Azerbaijan continues arresting activists of March 11 action

In Azerbaijan, on the eve of the "Great People's Day", scheduled on March 11 by the group of the Facebook, detentions of youth activists continue. On March 9, Orkhan Bayramov, a member of the youth movement "Nida" (Cry) was detained and taken to the 18th station of the Nariman District Police Division.

"At the station, policemen told me that I was detained with the aim of 'prevention'. They advised me to be 'prudent' and 'keep away from any protests'," said Bayramov. He was released in the morning.

The 18th police station neither confirmed nor denied the information about detention of the activist. The on duty officer said that "during the night several suspects of stealing tape recorders from cars had been detained," but refused to give names.

Another youth activist Fuad Gadjiev was detained late on Wednesday along with his friend, when they were taking away their order - T-shirts with inscriptions dedicated to the action on March 11 from the printing house. The young men were put into a Niva car and brought to the outskirt of the city, where they were brought into the yard of some one-story house.

"They took away and tore up 120 T-shirts with the inscription: 'Student, worker, policeman, politician, journalist - whoever you are, be free - March 11 is the Great People's Day!'. They also insulted us. Our kidnappers were all in civilian clothes. They wanted to force us to sign some blank sheets of paper, but we refused. After a while, after a talk on the phone, they let us go," said Gadjiev.

Meanwhile actions are undertaken in higher schools of Azerbaijan to prevent students' participation in the action. All the students were ordered to surely be in class on March 11; those who will fail to appear should bring certificates, confirming the place where they were. The Baku State University (BSU) threatens to exclude students from the University for taking part in the protest action. Students were instructed not to gather together, not to walk along corridors and "not to hold unwanted talks," - these were instructions of the dean offices and administration, said one of the students of the university. No strangers are admitted to the campus.

In its turn, as the "Turan" Agency reports, many students have not heard about the action on March 11, and believe that strengthened security measures are explained by certain expected transport diversions.