26 May 2012

Millions tune in to Eurovision despite opposition protests

Viewing figures for the Eurovision Song Contest are expected to top 125 million despite controversy over the staging of the competition in Azerbaijan.

Baku

As the glitzy event kicked off in the new Crystal Palace concert hall by the side of the Caspian Sea in the capital Baku, opposition activists vowed to continue staging rallies, flash mob protests and a hunger strike.

The 57th annual song contest saw performers from 42 nations battling it out, with Britain represented by 76-year-old crooner Engelbert Humperdinck.

Oil-rich Azerbaijan won the right to host Eurovision by winning last year’s event in Germany and sees the event as a chance to boost its image as an increasingly prosperous emerging economy.

But local activists have seized on the increased international media presence to draw attention to corruption and human rights abuses by the country’s authoritarian government.

On Friday dozens of anti-government protesters were detained by police close to where the finals are being held.

Police grabbed the scattered demonstrators as they chanted the word “freedom” and stuffed them into waiting buses. Witnesses saw police shoving and roughing up detainees once they were inside.

Shakha Gadjieva of the Azerbaijan Democratic Party, who is taking part in a hunger strike that began 12 days ago, said she was recently detained during an opposition rally. She showed bruising on her arms which she said were caused by police.

I explained that it is our constitutional right and we will continue to practice our constitutional rights. Ali Kerimli

The leader of the Azeri Opposition People’s Front Party Ali Kerimli left a police station in Baku after being summoned to appear there on Saturday in what he said was an attempt to intimidate him.

He said:”They (the city prosecutor and head of police) think that the pickets, rallies and flash-mobs are illegal and they demanded that we stop holding them. But they’ve found out what my opinion is.

“I explained that it is our constitutional right and we will continue to practice our constitutional rights.”

Azerbaijan’s ambassador to the UK Fakraddin Gurbanov told Channel 4 News: “We are celebrating last year 20 years of our independence. We are a young country.

“Human rights in Azerbaijan are codified in the constitution and people in Azerbaijan are free to express themselves. We have freedom of mass media, religion, demonstration and expression.”