Riot police dispersed an opposition rally in Azerbaijan's capital on Sunday, beating and detaining demonstrators who defied a ban on downtown protests to demand that parliamentary elections in two weeks be free. Opposition groups in the Caspian Sea coast nation have charged that the government will try to rig the Nov. 6 vote and have been holding rallies nearly every weekend, clashing with police in the former Soviet republic.About 200 riot police moved against several hundred protesters, hitting some with batons and pushing them away from a square where they had tried to hold a rally. Protesters, some carrying red carnations, chanted "Free Elections!" One demonstrator fell after several officers hit him over the head with batons, and fellow protesters carried him away to a safer area.
| Good luck to them. I know little about the regime of Aliev, Junior, but I'm against hereditary presidencies on principle. If they want a king, let them call him a king and give him a funny hat. |