POLITICS
NO RADICAL OPPOSITION LEADERS GIVE UP PROVOKING CONFRONTATION
According to the Deputy Chief of the Baku Main Police Department Major-General Yashar Aliyev, at about 4:00 p.m, October 1, a group of approximately 100 led by Rauf Arifoglu, Arif Hajiyev and Gabil Huseynli and armed with iron bars wrapped in papers pressed an attack on police officers in front of the building of State Committee for Securities near movie theater “Nizami”. Those who struck the police officers were bodyguards of Rauf Arifoglu, Arif Hajiyev and Gabil Huseynli.
Commander of the special police unit colonel Rza Hajiyev said at about 4: p.m a group of people led by Rauf Arifoglu, Arif Hajiyev and other activists of the radical opposition had attacked them all of a sudden. “They, largely athletes and Rauf Arifoglu’s bodyguards have various stuff including iron bars in their hands. Had not the police officers been armed with shields, they might have been killed,” he said.
While curbing unrest, a number of police officers were seriously injured and put in hospital. According to senior sergeant at the special police unit Nasirov, Rauf Arifoglu and his bodyguards, as always, were displaying particularly aggressive behavior. When we called to order, Rauf Arifoglu’s bodyguards suddenly pounced on us striking our heads and arms with iron bars. As a result, I lost consciousness, and don’t know what happened after that, he said.