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Eyewitness Account Of Baku Arrests


Police in Baku detained around 50 people
Police in Baku detained around 50 people
Azerbaijani blogger Arzu Geybullayeva has a good account of the events in Baku on May 10, where police arrested and detained members of youth and student groups, protesting that a celebration of the late president's birthday took place instead of a day of mourning for students killed in a recent gun attack.

We weren't protesting out loud, we were peacefully walking on the street, heads down, talking. I guess that is also a crime or some version of hooliganism as our police forces liked to call it. And the only reason why didn't catch us at first was because they weren't sure how many we were exactly, the tactic was to make sure we were a small group, otherwise it would have been harder.

But the worst thing was when the thugs grabbed a 15 year old girl who
was standing at the bus stop in the vicinity where all of this occurred. She was crying when she was forced to get into the car but the fat guy on the phone kept on shouting at her and forced her to get into the car.

I am amazed how I wasn't detained. I was miraculously saved simply by standing two meters away from where all of this was going on and taking photos.

Read the full entry here.

-- Luke Allnutt

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Written by RFE/RL editors and correspondents, Transmission serves up news, comment, and the odd silly dictator story. While our primary concern is with foreign policy, Transmission is also a place for the ideas -- some serious, some irreverent -- that bubble up from our bureaus. The name recognizes RFE/RL's role as a surrogate broadcaster to places without free media. You can write us at transmission+rferl.org

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