The days when Azerbaijani authorities are traditionally engaged in inciting hatred toward the Armenians as a part of their propaganda stunt called “the anniversary of the January 20 tragedy”, a protest rally is held at Mehsul Stadium organized by the National Council of Democratic Forces.

Activists of the Popular Front Party, Musavat and REAL take part in a protest rally demanding the release of blogger Mehman Huseynov and all other political prisoners.

The police are taking heightened security measures and three cordons are checking for those who come to the rally, contact.az reported.

As usual, the authorities are blocking access to the Internet at the venue of the rally in order to prevent live transmission to social networks.

Azerbaijani authorities force their population to mark the anniversary of the “January 20 tragedy” on January 19-20.  On the night of January 20, 1990, units of the Soviet Army entered Baku in order to stop the mass pogroms of the local Armenian population, which had already spread to the Russian residents of the city. The organizers and participants of the Armenian pogroms in Azerbaijan have been declared “fighters for the territorial integrity and independence of the motherland.” Those of them who died as a result of troops were buried in the “Alley of the shekhids”, where crowds of officials and employees of state institutions, students and schoolchildren are driven every year. The authorities are completely silent about the fact that the troops were deployed to stop the Armenian pogroms.