Public about Police Operation in Yeni Yasamal

Baku / 08.06.20 / Turan: Clashes between citizens and the police in the Yeni Yasamal massif showed a lack of public confidence in the state. This opinion was expressed by public activist Bakhtiyar Hajiyev on his Facebook page.

Recall that on June 7, residents of an apartment building on Dadash Bunyadzadeh Street threw garbage bags at police officers who detained their neighbor for violating the quarantine. Today, the police carried out mass detentions of the tenants in a harsh form.

According to Hajiyev, such actions only worsen the image of the police,

“Today’s police behavior will only increase the discontent of citizens. In recent days, a lot of videos have appeared on the social network about inadequate police treatment of citizens. In response, citizens also behave unethically with the police. As long as the authorities rely on brute force, the situation will worsen, the activist said.

“A citizen can be drunken, and nervous, and a drug addict, but in all cases, the police should be restrained, handle normally and act within the law. If a citizen scolds the police, this does not mean that the policeman should insult him in response. Otherwise, the process goes beyond the law and turns into a brawl.

What we saw today was like an operation of “retaliation” to intimidate and humiliate citizens,” said Bakhtiyar Hajiyev.

The leader of the pro-government Fatherland party, MP Fazail Agamaly, called the actions of the citizens a manifestation of "ignorance." He accused the citizens of neglecting the dangers of coronavirus.

"Such people sow doubts about the danger of the infection and, thereby, contribute to the spread of the number of infected people," the deputy told Turan.

He also criticized the distribution of video materials about conflicts between citizens and police on social networks. He justified the stiffness of the police.

The opposite opinion was expressed by the leader of the Real Party, Ilgar Mammadov, calling lawlessness the massive police invasion of the residential building.

Authorities should punish the organizers of this operation, against which international sanctions should be introduced, Mammadov wrote on his Facebook page.

The deputy chairman of the Popular Front Party, Gezal Bayramli, believes that such a police treatment of citizens reinforces the population’s hatred of the authorities.

“You can’t detain civilians as dangerous bandits for a small offense. This shows that the regime is configured to confront the people.

The fact that people threw objects at the police was a protest against the strict quarantine, when people were forbidden to even take out the trash. It is unacceptable to bring the police into the apartment building in the morning, and take the people half-naked away,” she said.

Anar Mammadli, head of the Center for Election Monitoring and Democracy Education, also considers the actions of the police unlawful. “From social media, we have witnessed inadequately harsh police behavior. The pandemic should not be fought with a gross violation of citizens' rights. After all, this causes hatred of the police.

In general, prosecution of quarantine violators is not a matter of the police, but of the courts. Police abuse must be stopped,” Mammadli wrote on Facebook. —1606D-