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AP Azerbaijan Opposition Holds Rally By AIDA SULTANOVA, Associated Press Writer Sat Jun 4,11:49 AM ET BAKU, Azerbaijan - Thousands of opposition protesters chanted "Freedom!"
President Bush as they marched across Azerbaijan's capital Saturday, urging the government of this US ally to step down and allow free parl iamentary elections this year.
The massive rally in Baku was the largest opposition demonstration in the former Soviet republic since October 2003, when one person died and nea rly 200 were injured in clashes between police and demonstrators protest ing vote-rigging in the presidential election. Tensions have been building steadily in this oil-rich Caspian Sea nation in the run-up to parliamentary elections set for November, leading some observers to predict that Azerbaijan could see a massive uprising simila r to those that toppled unpopular regimes in other ex-Soviet nations of Georgia, Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan during the past 18 months. Supporters of several opposition parties chanted "Freedom!" while holding placards with such slogans as "Down with robber g overnment!" Some carried a picture of Bush with the inscription: "We wan t freedom!" The rally was intended to draw attention to the opposition's push for ele ction law reforms and access to state-controlled television. The opposit ion parties have accused authorities of rigging the October 2003 preside ntial election when President Ilham Aliev succeeded his late father, Gei dar Aliev, and demanded changes to prevent fraud in the parliamentary vo te. Two weeks ago, police beat back opposition protesters who tried to hold a banned rally in Baku. Authorities in Baku initially refused the request from the People's Front of Azerbaijan, the Democratic Party of Azerbaijan and the Musavat party to allow Saturday's downtown rally, suggesting they instead hold it on the outskirts of the city. But after opposition leaders rejected that offer Friday and vowed to gath er in downtown Baku anyway, authorities approved the rally in the city c enter. Azerbaijan, an oil-rich, mostly Muslim country of 83 million, is the sta rting point of the key pipeline that Washington says will reduce depende nce on oil from the Middle East.
A young Azerbaijani protester holds a picture of US President Georg e W Bush with the inscription 'We want freedom,' as other demonstrators carry flags of opposition parties, during a protest rally in downtown B aku, Azerbaijan, Saturday, June 4, 2005. About 10,000 opposition protest ers marched Saturday across Azerbaijan's capital Baku urging the governm ent to step down and allow free parliamentary elections later this year. The massive rally was the largest opposition demonstration in the ex-So viet nation since October 2003.
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