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On September 11, a rally under the slogan “No to the monarchy, end to the robbery!” was held in the Azerbaijani capital Baku. The rally was against the Constitutional amendments proposed by the authorities, the Caucasian Knot reports.

According to the information, the participants of the rally had photos and of political prisoners and posters with slogans in their hands, which said “Freedom to political prisoners!”, “No to the monarchy!”, “We say no!”, “We do not want a king, we are not slaves!”. The stadium, where the protest was held, was surrounded by police officers along the whole perimeter. According to one of the members of the organizing committee of the rally, Eldaniz Guliyev, 13-14 thousand of people participated in the protest action.

It is reported that the rally ended with the adoption of a resolution, according to which, the Constitutional amendments put to a referendum on September 26 should be cancelled. Besides, it is offered to conduct political reforms and release political prisoners.

Azerbaijani Popular Front Party (APPF) leader Ali Kerimli called the rally the beginning of a new movement, in which “liberals and nationalists, believers and atheists united by the idea of having a free Azerbaijan have come together.”

“Because of their incompetent ruling, the current authorities have led the country to a heavy economic crisis. Manat twice devaluated in a year continues to drop every day. Prices rise rapidly, the population grows poorer, and cannot pay debts to banks in foreign currency. Instead of conducting real reforms, the government has put forward the referendum in order to change the Constitution,” Vidadi Mirkamal – member of the coordinating center of the National Council of Democratic Forces (NCDF) – stated at the rally.

APFP leader Ali Kerimli stated that the Constitutional amendments are not the only reason of the protest. “We have gathered here not only to say ‘no’ to the monarchy. There are many questions we say ‘no’ to. We say ‘no’ to the plunder of the state budget and exhaustion of state resources,” Kerimli stated.

It is noted that along with Azerbaijan’s flags, the EU flags were also raised during the rally. According to the statement issued by the press-service of Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs, 2500 representatives of various political parties included in the National Council of Democratic Forces and opposition non-governmental organizations participated in the rally.

Meanwhile, the Caucasian Knot writes that on September 17, at the rally against the Constitutional amendments in Baku, the Azerbaijani opposition leaders stated that all the changes in the Basic law only serve the interests of the ruling elite.

“The whole week, the pro-governmental propaganda was trying to discredit the nationwide protest and was presenting the participants of the rally as paid people. Now, 51 activists from our party responsible for calling on the citizens to participate in the rally have been arrested. Moreover, in a number of regions, the oppositionists, who were coming to Baku, were dropped off the buses,” APFP leader Ali Kerimli said.

During the rally, Deputy chairman of the Islamic party, Rovshan Ahmedli, read the appeal of the jailed Taleh Bagirzade, the Muslim Unity movement leader. “At the time, when I protected journalist Khadija Ismayilova, I was told that she was an atheist. However, I believe that an atheist, who confronts despotism, is better than people, who pray at the doors of despotism. If you call yourselves Islamists, why do you take a contemplative position? Those, who supports the authorities, does not worship Allah, but the idol,” Rovshan Ahmedli cited Bagirzade. According to the Caucasian Knot, as an answer to these words, the following expressions were heard: “We have come to the square to say ‘No to the devil!’, “Freedom!”

At the end of the rally, Ilham Huseynov, the head of the APFP Youth Committee, stated that the activists of the party detained ahead of the rally had been released. “It is obvious the authorities detained them in order to sabotage our protest. However, despite the pressure and persecutions, we will continue to hold rallies,” Huseynov said.

According to the organizers, 3-4 thousand of people participated in the rally. However, after the rally, the police and men in civilian outfits started to detain people, who were leaving the stadium. Some of them were released by the evening.

“Outside the stadium, the policemen and people in civilian outfits started to attack the young participants of the rally and carry them into buses and police cars. People in civilian outfits were beating some of them, while dragging them to the cars,” Nailya Alieva, an eyewitness to the detentions, said.

Meanwhile, according to the Caucasian Knot, around 3000 people were present at the rally against the Constitutional referendum held the next day in Baku. It ended with the adoption of a resolution. The participants of the protest urged the authorities to cancel the September 26 Referendum, release the political prisoners, and conduct reforms on providing fundamental freedoms.

For example, Equality Party leader Isa Gambar stated at the rally that the deep political, social, and economic crisis in Azerbaijan is the consequence of the current authorities’ politics.

Lawyer Osman Kazimov stated that the Constitutional changes violate people’s rights further, and the politics of the authorities is contrary to the national interests. In his opinion, the president fails to perform his constitutional duties.

D-18 movement leader Ruslan Izzetli noted that the Azerbaijani authorities have to learn lessons from Muammar Gaddafi and Hosni Mubarak’s fate, if they do not want to end the same way. In his turn, Musavat leader Arif Hajili stated that the failure of the economic politics displayed the incompetence of the authorities. “The same situation is in the political system, where not only strategy is absent, but also the elementary understanding of the events,” Hajili said.

Hajili also noted that the authorities did not register the opposition party Musavat for the Referendum. “The authorities registered their three agitation groups, which refused free air. It means that they (the authorities) are not in conditions to explain to their citizens, why they need Constitutional changes. No one has issued any clarification so far. The authorities fail to adequately assess the situation and they think that they can create the second North Korea here and rule in the same way,” Hajili highlighted.

He also added that Musavat activists faced pressure and detentions ahead of the rally. Summing up, he expressed willingness to unite efforts with the National Council of Democratic Forces, and called on the opposition to hold a rally on September 24. His offer met approval and applauses.

To remind, on July 18, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev signed a decree to send a Project of Referendum Act on Introducing Amendments to the Constitution of Azerbaijan to the Constitutional Court of the country for consideration. The suggested amendments propose to introduce the institutes of the first vice-president and vice-presidents, who will be appointed and dismissed by the president of the country.

In addition, the minimum age limit for a presidential candidate, which is now set to 35 years, will be eliminated. It is also planned to increase the presidential term from five to seven years. It is proposed to introduce an amendment in the Constitution providing for the dissolution of the parliament, a provision, which is not provided in the current Constitution.

The constitutional provision on the Parliament of Azerbaijan is also proposed to be amended to remove the parliamentary candidates' age restrictions. Therefore, if people under 25 could not enter the parliament earlier, now the amendments give them the right to participate in elections from 18.

Azerbaijani oppositionists and experts called the Constitutional amendments retrogressive considering them directed towards the strengthening of the authoritarianism in the country, which will lead to serious human rights violations. The Referendum is due on September 26, 2016.