Protest on May 14. What are the activists protesting against?

Baku/12.05.22/Turan: A group of public activists decided to hold a protest rally in Fountain Square in Baku on May 14. The action is aimed at protesting against the growth of physical violence and threats against public figures.

According to the organizers, the action will start from Fountain Square and will be a peaceful procession to the building of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The organizers of the action, social and political activists Ulvi Hasanli and Fuad Ahmedli, tell about the purpose of the action in the program "Difficult Question".

According to Ulvi Hasanli, the purpose of the upcoming action is to call on the government to take measures to put an end to the crimes committed against media representatives and public activists.

“Recently, in Azerbaijan, crimes of a socio-political nature have not been disclosed by law enforcement agencies. Not so long ago, after an incident with opposition activist Tofik Yagublu, who was accused of beating himself, another social and political activist Bahtiyar Hajiyev was kidnapped and humiliated. So far, there have been no significant results. After that, there was an attack on journalist Ayten Mammadova, who was also threatened with killing her daughter,” he said.

According to him, all this overwhelmed the patience of public activists and they came to the conclusion that in some form it is necessary to show their reaction and call on the government to get the law enforcement agencies to solve these crimes.

“People cannot be constantly threatened. This way of life is not typical for a normal country. And if the government does not heed our call, then this will be clear evidence that the series of these incidents is nothing more than the persecution of media representatives and activists for political reasons,” Hasanli said, adding that if such pressure and threats are not put an end to, then in the country will begin an even more difficult and gloomy period.

According to Fuad Ahmedli, the decision to hold a peaceful demonstration was made unanimously, after which an organizing committee consisting of 24 people was formed. He noted that one of the reasons that prompted them to hold a protest action was that so far, numerous campaigns to collect signatures, appeals to the government, proposals and other appeals have been futile.

“Due to the indifference of the authorities, and also due to the fact that political motives can be traced in all these crimes, we political activists, members of political parties, human rights activists and journalists have decided to hold a peaceful protest. Our goal is to get the attention of the authorities to what is happening with social and political activists, Tofik Yagublu, Bakhtiyar Hajiyev, journalist Ayten Mammadova, to Ilkin Suleymanov’s business and other outrageous processes, to put all these issues on the agenda,” Ahmedli said.--0--