JAN. 18 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) – It wasn’t until police reinforcements arrived on Jan. 24, according to media, that the authorities were able to regain control of the town of Ismayilli.
Since the previous afternoon, the town, about 200km north-west of Azerbaijan’s capital Baku, had been the scene of street fighting between police and young men frustrated by the lack of jobs and an increasingly high-handed political elite.
The fighting erupted on Jan. 23 after a car crash reportedly involving the son of a government minister. Both the trigger, alleged favouritism towards the political elite, and the resulting vicious backlash, were telling.
This was Azerbaijan’s worst violence for a decade. It came less than a year after similar, though smaller, street fighting, also triggered by the political elites’ arrogance, in another town.
The fighting in Ismayilli will no doubt draw a similar reaction from the authorities. They will pour in police to clampdown on dissenters and mount a PR campaign to discredit the protesters.
Azerbaijan’s economy is booming, luxury goods crowd Baku’s streets and millions are lavished on prestige projects such Eurovision last year. The street violence, though, suggests that there are large swathes of Azerbaijan’s under-classes who are not so happy.
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(News report from Issue No. 121, published on Jan. 25 2013)
