JULY 2 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgia’s parliament banned small rallies from blocking roads and railways and forbid demonstrations from coming within 20m of a government building. Parliament said the restrictions were needed after two people died in a protest in May. The opposition said the rules were an attack on free speech.
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(News report from Issue No. 47, published on July 6 2011)
JUNE 28 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – The London-listed subsidiary of Kazakhstan’s state oil company, KMG EP, reduced its 2011 oil production target by 4% because of strikes in the west of the country. Hundreds of oil workers have been on strike for a month over pay.
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(News report from Issue No. 46, published on June 28 2011)
JUNE 19 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – Police in Baku detained 23 protesters at an anti-government demonstration which they said was illegal. Worried that street-level revolutions in the Arab world may spread, the authorities in Azerbaijan have been trying to stamp out anti-government protesters throughout the year.
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(News report from Issue No. 45, published on June 21 2011)
JUNE 8 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – The authorities in a town near Baku replaced a statue of Hosni Mubarak, the former Egyptian leader overthrown in a popular uprising earlier this year, media reported. Azerbaijan has faced growing anti-government protests and concern was mounting that the statue could become a focal point of discontent.
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(News report from Issue No. 44, published on June 14 2011)
MAY 25/26 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – In the worst street violence in Georgia since a state of emergency in November 2007, police fired rubber bullets and tear gas at anti- government protesters blocking the main street in Tbilisi. The government said protesters had started the violence, the protesters said it was unprovoked. A car speeding away from the protest hit and killed two people.
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(News report from Issue No. 42, published on May 30 2011)
MAY 27 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – In a move aimed at appeasing anti-government protests, Armenian authorities released journalist Nikol Pahinian and parliamentarian Sasun Mikaelyan from jail. Mr Pahinian and Mr Mikaelian were prominent opposition figures jailed for allegedly provoking clashes after elections in 2008.
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(News report from Issue No. 42, published on May 30 2011)
MAY 22 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – Security forces fired rubber bullets to disperse anti-government demonstrators in central Tbilisi, some of whom had attacked plain-clothed police with sticks during the worst street violence in Georgia since a state of emergency in 2007. The day before, about 6,000 protesters had called for President Mikheil Saakashvili to resign.
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(News report from Issue No. 41, published on May 24 2011)
MAY 15 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – Food prices in Tajikistan have risen by about 30% in the last month, RFE/RL reported. Worried about social unrest, US-funded RFE/RL said that the authorities have spent millions stocking up on food and fuel and imposed price caps on meat.
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(News report from Issue No. 40, published on May 17 2011)
MAY 4 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – A court in Azerbaijan sentenced 20-year-old opposition activist Jabbar Savalan to 2-1/2 years in prison for drugs possession. Police arrested Savalan for carrying opium in February immediately after he had called for a “Day of Rage” on Facebook, a networking website. Amnesty International said the charges were politically motivated.
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(News report from Issue No. 39, published on May 9 2011)
APRIL 18 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijan deported three Swedish journalists who had tried to film an anti-government protest, said the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists. The authorities told the journalists, who worked for Swedish state broadcaster Sveriges Television, they did not have the correct accreditation.
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(News report from Issue No. 37, published on April 25 2011)