Police chief tosses responsibility for Saturday violance from police onto opposition

According to Aliyev, the opposition evidently did not follow regulations at its rallies recently. "We invited the rally organizers every time before the rally started and were explaining them requirements. The organizers promised to follow the law, even before the latest rally. However, some people began to send various challenges when the rally was over. Despite of the warnings of Yashar Aliyev who was charged with preserving the tranquility they kept on making such challenges," said Aliyev.

Baku Police Chief said that, 46 policemen were injured during the confrontation after the rally and 15 of them are currently in a hospital, 31 were sent home after being rendered medical aid.

Police arrested 57 of the rally participants who violated the law. Arrest decision was made on 23 of them by a court, 10 participants were fined and 1 was set free after being warned. The chairman of the MPDB stated that though the policemen attempted to come closer to the microphone to address the people many times they were prevented from doing that.

Aliyev underlined that the police will base on the rule of law if such cases happen again: "You see, the police are executing their official duties not their own intentions. We have to restore order for the sake of defending others’ rights. If we don’t do that it means we do not implement our official duties or cannot do it," said police chief.

Aliyev also commented a fact that during the police action against oppositionists there were people in civilian dress assisting police. He said that those men were ordinary people protesting to the rally of the opposition: "As for the existing of the small number of civilians near the police forces, they were only assistants and served as pointers".

The police head also mentioned that police did not intend to use force against journalists during the rally, chairman of the MPDB said that no restrictions can be imposed on the journalists who fulfill their official duties: "It is against the law. However, some journalists who are inciting the process might suffer by accident".

At the end of the interview Aliyev said that Main Police Department conducts investigation on some facts of the incident but underlined that only those who challenged the people are to be blamed: "The law enforcement bodies should execute their duties in order to prevent such cases in future. The processes happened are likely to be discussed at a higher level and there will be defined who and why took some steps. The matter should be explained on the ministerial level or Mayor’s Office after that. Everything will be clear then. Relevant persons are likely to express opinion on the matter".

APA