Yesterday evening, thousands of local residents of Ismayilli, some 150 kilometers northwest of the capital Baku, attacked the headquarters of the local executive authorities, burned the local governor’s houses, a local hotel and the cars belonging to the relatives of the hated governor. The local police was unable to disperse the protesters. The riots in Ismayilli bear a striking similarity to the local protests against unpopular governor in Guba in March last year.
During the evening hours, the Azerbaijani government sent in Internal Troops to quell the protests. The Ismayilli riots were triggered by the rumors that Vugar Alakbarov, the spoiled son of the Azerbaijani Minister of Social Welfare Fizuli Alakbarov, insulted the local Ismayilli people making derogatory comments about them. The local governor Nizami Alakbarov (this position is not elected, but appointed by the Azerbaijani president) is the brother of the Social Welfare Minister. The governor himself has no roots in Ismayilli and is viewed as an outsider in the region.
The local media reports that the additional aggravating circumstance was that the local governor’s illegally owned hotel “Chiraq” operated as an unofficial brothel insulting the moral sensitivities of the local population.
The local media reports that the Ismayili authorities have ignored repeated calls by local residents to shut down the hotel, the site of an alleged brothel.
The hotel and governor’s residence were seriously damaged by fire.
Protesters also targeted luxury cars, some of which were reportedly owned by the son of the Social Welfare Minister Alkbarov and some owned by the governor of Ismayilli himself.
Some local media outlets have reported injuries among the police forces and the protesters. Below are the photos of the riots in Ismayilli:
