Pro-government group in Azerbaijan attempts to attack opposition
BAKU, Aug 10 (AFP) – Some 200 supporters of a pro-government group in
Azerbaijan attempted to storm the headquarters of an opposition party
Wednesday in a new sign of tension ahead of November 6 parliamentary
elections, an AFP correspondent on the scene said.
Protestors chanted “Shame!” as they pushed against a police cordon in
the ex-Soviet republic’s capital Baku while trying to break into the
opposition National Front party building.
The crowd, from the Muasir Musavat (Modern Unity) party, said they
were incensed by an opposition leader’s alleged contacts with agents
from Azerbaijan’s neighbour Armenia.
The leader of the Yeni Fikir opposition movement, Ruslan Bashirli, was
arrested last week and charged with allegedly accepting Armenian money
to finance a revolution in Azerbaijan. Yeni Fikir has an office in the
National Front headquarters.
The opposition has denied the accusation, which is potentially
damaging because of tense relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia,
rivals that fought a war in the 1990s over the territory of Nagorno
Karabakh.
The last two days have already seen scuffles and stone-throwing
between pro- and anti-government supporters in Baku.
Europe’s top election-monitoring body, the Organization for Security
and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), on Tuesday condemned violent attacks
directed at the opposition.
The head of the OSCE office in Baku, Maurizio Pavesi, called on the
authorities to prevent “violent and unauthorized public meetings” or
risk causing the “deterioration” of the electoral campaign.