Azerbaijani activists set free after brawl with Armenians in Saint Petersburg

Azerbaijani young people detained in Saint Petersburg after a brawl with their Armenian counterparts at the "Immortal Regiment" march have been released from the police, the Consul General of Azerbaijan said.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on May 9, at the "Immortal Regiment" marches in Moscow and Saint Petersburg, conflicts broke out between Armenians and Azerbaijanis. In both cases, brawls started after Armenians raised flags of Nagorno-Karabakh. In Saint Petersburg, policemen detained members of the Azerbaijani Diaspora.

The Consulate General of Azerbaijan in Saint Petersburg came into play after the detention. Ten young men, taken to police stations, were released today, said Sultan Gasymov, Consul General of Azerbaijan in Saint Petersburg.

The conflict that broke out at the "Immortal Regiment" marches is typical for members of both Diasporas, believes Akhmet Yarlykapov, Senior Researcher of the Centre for Ethnopolitical Studies of the Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS).

He is sure there will be no continuation of the incident neither at the political, nor at the public level. "Obviously, these were just unpleasant incidents, which have been exhausted. Armenians and Azerbaijanis live side by side for a long time, and do it quite friendly," said Mr Yarlykapov.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.