About 50,000 people have demonstrated in Azerbaijan’s capital Baku, calling for war after recent deadly clashes with neighbouring Armenia.
Security forces deployed water cannon and tear gas to disperse the protesters, who demanded the government fully deploy the army, shouting pro-war slogans, such as: “Death to Armenians” and “Order us to go to war”. Some of them even entered the parliament building.
Government officials tried to calm the crowd, to no avail. At one point, protestors overturned a police vehicle. Some 100 people were arrested. Mass gatherings are currently banned in Azerbaijan in a bid to control the spread of the coronavirus.
Since Sunday, 16 people were killed in a border conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan. The Armenian defence ministry has said the incident started after soldiers from the other side attempted to cross the border in a vehicle.
Armenia and Azerbaijan were part of the Soviet Union and have been involved in a territorial conflict since gaining independence within the 1990s. The main issue is a disputed territory called Nagorno-Karabakh, internationally recognised as part of Azerbaijan but controlled by ethnic Armenians.
The current incident appears to mark the most serious spike in hostilities since 2016, the when the nations fought for 4 days in the region. The violence resulted in the deaths of over 90 troops on each side and over a dozen civilians.
