Police prevent attempt to hold picket in front of Azerbaijani Parliament

In Baku, the police prevented an unsanctioned picket in front of the Parliament of Azerbaijan, which was to be held by the opposition "Civil Movement for Democracy 'Public Chamber'" (CMDPC). The action was held to protest against the discussion by the country's National Assembly of the draft amendments, aimed at multiple increases in penalties for violations of the rules of holding rallies and pickets.

The CMDPC appealed to the Baku Mayoralty with a notification on its intention to hold the picket in front of the Parliament. However, the Mayoralty did not sanction the protest action.

The picket was scheduled for 12:00 a.m. local time. However, yet an hour prior to the scheduled time, police officers and persons in civilian clothes were visible around the building of the Parliament. At about 12:00 a.m., the traffic police began to prohibit stopping of buses of city bus routes in front of the Parliament, thus preventing the exit of passengers, among whom could be potential participants of the protest action, the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent reports.

At about 12:30 a.m. Moscow time, the first group of protesters, consisting of 5-6 persons, appeared. They were chanting the slogans: "Freedom!", "Freedom of Assembly!" and "Dissolve Parliament!" However, the oppositionists were immediately detained and forced into police cars. Djamil Gadjiev, the leader of the youth organization of the Democratic Party, was among the detainees. The same fate befell another group of activists of about the same number that appeared on the ground in front of the Parliament 10 minutes later.

About 15 more persons were detained in 300 meters from the building of the Parliament in the park, where earlier, the monument to Meshadi Azizbekov, the Baku commissar, was located. According to the representative of the "Musavat" Party, the group intended to march along Parliamentary Avenue to the building of the National Assembly.

Panakh Gusein, a member of the Coordinating Council of the CMDPC, stated at the building of the Parliament that "the action succeeded". "Despite the rain shower and hurricane wind, citizens have come here to protest against plans of the authorities to restrict freedom of assembly. We will continue to fight against those reactionary measures, aimed to suppress freedom of assembly," Panakh Gusein said.

In their turn, the police officers motivated the suppression of the protest action by the fact that it was not sanctioned by the city authorities.