Flowers versus power in violent Azerbaijan demonstration

Agence France Presse — English
August 9, 2005 Tuesday 3:47 PM GMT

BAKU Aug 9

Flowers became weapons in Azerbaijan’s capital Baku Tuesday when a
bid by opposition activists to charm pro-government supporters with
fresh bouquets degenerated into a pitched fight.

The confrontation between about 100 pro- and anti-government
demonstrators started as an attempt to make peace, following clashes
on Monday in which the two sides showered each other with bottles
and stones.

Elderly female supporters of the National Front opposition party
brought carnations to a group of pro-government female demonstrators
in conservative Islamic dress. But the gesture was refused and soon
both sides were using the flowers against each other, before resorting
to egg throwing.

The incident was one of the more bizarre signs of growing tension
ahead of a November parliamentary poll in the oil-rich, mainly Muslim
republic.

The latest confrontations followed the arrest last week of Ruslan
Bashirli, leader of the Yeni Fikir (New Thought) youth opposition
group, for his alleged contacts with secret agents from Azerbaijan’s
enemy neighbour Armenia.

Anti-government parties have dismissed those allegations as part of
a state-sponsored smear campaign.

The last national vote, the 2003 presidential elections in which
Ilham Aliyev took over from his father Heydar Aliyev, ended in two
days of rioting and hundreds of arrests.

Azerbaijan lost a war against Armenia in the early 1990s in which
about 25,000 people on the two sides died. No peace deal has been
signed and an armed standoff continues.