Azerbaijani police forces clash with anti-corruption protestors

(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - In Azerbaijan, police forces have broken up an anti-corruption protest staged by the country’s youth activists in the capital city, Baku.The demonstration was sparked by a video that appears to show a lawmaker offering a seat in parliament in return for more than one million dollars in bribes.Protesters took to the streets in the capital to voice their anger, demand the dissolution of the parliament and call for an investigation into the scandal.Activists decided to go ahead with the demonstration despite authorities’ refusal to grant them a permit. Reports say the security officers have detained many of the protesters.This is not the first time that Azerbaijan’s police forces have violently broken up the protests. Earlier this month Azeri police clashed with demonstrators protesting a ban on wearing headscarves in the country’s schools.Baton-wielding police forces attacked scores of protesters who had gathered outside the Ministry of Education in the capital, Baku.The demonstrators were calling for the removal of the government’s ban on Islamic hijab in schools. About 70 people were arrested, and many more wounded in the clashes between the security forces and protesters.Azerbaijan is a mainly Muslim country with deep Islamic traditions, but in 2009, the government officially banned Islamic-style headscarves for girls at schools.The decision has infuriated the country’s Muslim majority, who make up about 98 percent of the population, and has led to many protest rallies demanding an end to the government’s anti-Islam measures. /129