Thousands of protesters set off on a march through Azerbaijan's capital yesterday, answering the call by Azerbaijan's main opposition movement to come into the streets to defend their right to free and fair elections.
The protest was the first test of the opposition's ability to mobilize supporters following last week-end's flawed parliamentary elections, and the movement hoped it would generate unstoppable mom-entum. However, only several thousand people took part at the march's beginning, far short of the 30,000 to 50,000 the opposition had hoped to assemble. Others could join the march as it approaches one of the city's main squares.
The rally, which authorities have limited to three hours, is likely to provide several gauges of how the political climate will develop: how many supporters the opposition can marshal, whether their anger explodes into confrontation with police and how harshly security forces respond to any unauthorized actions.
Quiet walk
The march began calmly, with participants walking quietly down a four-lane road closed off to traffic.
"The opposition will try to mount continual protests," participant Siyasat Huseynov of the Liberal Party said. "No doubt there will be official repression, as always."
The opposition coalition Azadliq that called for the march is trying to emulate the movements that brought opposition leaders to power after disputed elections in Georgia and Ukraine, and many of yesterday's marchers were waving flags of orange, the emblematic color of last year's massive protests in Ukraine.
Yet it lacks some of the key strengths that bolstered protests in other ex-Soviet republics: the skillful organization that carried the day in Ukraine and the wide popular allegiance the leaders enjoyed in Georgia.
The government clearly has the upper hand, including a tight grip on state media and control over some 30 percent of the jobs in the country, analysts say.
Azadliq planned a 3km march from a subway station on the outskirts of the capital Baku, to Gelebe Square.
"People are afraid to go to this rally," said Fargana Abdulayeva, a 24-year-old interpreter and opposition supporter in Baku. "People who have government jobs are afraid of losing them."
Tariyel Akhanshev, a 19-year old disc jockey, said he hadn't bothered to vote and would not join the protest.
"What will it change?" he asked.
The government of President Ilham Aliev -- as that of his late father Geidar Aliev before him -- has persecuted the opposition, banning demonstrations, jailing its activists and directing state-run television to smear its leaders. He has accused one opposition leader in exile, Rasul Guliyev, of masterminding a coup attempt last month.
Claimed victory
The ruling New Azerbaijan Party on Tuesday claimed the victory, winning 63 of the 125 seats in the legislature, according to preliminary official results.
The opposition did chalk up some victories, however. The Central Election Commission annulled the results of Sunday's vote in two electoral districts and ordered a recount in a third.
The races earlier had been declared won by pro-government candidates.
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
GLOBAL COMBAT AIR PROGRAM: The potential purchasers would be limited to the 15 nations with which Tokyo has signed defense partnership and equipment transfer deals Japan’s Cabinet yesterday approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it is developing with the UK and Italy to other nations, in the latest move away from the country’s post-World War II pacifist principles. The contentious decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure Japan’s role in the joint fighter jet project, and is part of a move to build up the Japanese arms industry and bolster its role in global security. The Cabinet also endorsed a revision to Japan’s arms equipment and technology transfer guidelines to allow coproduced lethal weapons to be sold to nations
Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia
ON ALERT: A Russian cruise missile crossed into Polish airspace for about 40 seconds, the Polish military said, adding that it is constantly monitoring the war to protect its airspace Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, and the western region of Lviv early yesterday came under a “massive” Russian air attack, officials said, while a Russian cruise missile breached Polish airspace, the Polish military said. Russia and Ukraine have been engaged in a series of deadly aerial attacks, with yesterday’s strikes coming a day after the Russian military said it had seized the Ukrainian village of Ivanivske, west of Bakhmut. A militant attack on a Moscow concert hall on Friday that killed at least 133 people also became a new flash point between the two archrivals. “Explosions in the capital. Air defense is working. Do not