“Long live Azerbaijan, long live the police!” – police PR stunt backfires, irks social media users

“Long live Azerbaijan, long live the police!” – police PR stunt backfires, irks social media users

Students of the Baku conservatory staged a flash mob yesterday and sang a song “for the glory of Azerbaijan and the police” from the balcony of a residential building. 

This concert caused criticism on social media, as many believe that the flash mob was actually organised by the police themselves.

 Social media users write that the police are trying to improve their image, which was badly damaged after an incident in early June when police beat the inhabitants of one Baku residential complex  because they did not want to comply with the quarantine introduced because of the coronavirus pandemic.

It soon surfaced after the concert, which included flowers being thrown to policemen stationed below and which at first glanced seemed to be an expression of thanks organised by the residents of the building, that  in fact, the singers were students of the National Conservatory.

Conflict with police over quarantine

 On June 8, 2020, in the Yasamal district of Baku, police arrested 11 people for violation of the quarantine regulations due to the coronavirus pandemic.

 On weekends, everyone was forbidden to leave home.  In protest of this measure, people threw garbage from the balconies at police officers.

The arrests were accompanied by brutality and violence by the police. The detainees received between 10 – 30 days in prison.

 In the last two weeks, the number of new coronavirus infections has been rapidly growing in Azerbaijan. Over the past day, 547 new cases have been recorded, and in total, by June 26, 14,852 people have been infected in the country. 180 of them died, 8,059 recovered.

Since June 21, a strict quarantine regime has been re-introduced in Azerbaijan. Shopping centers, cafes and many businesses have closed.

Residents of Baku and several cities and districts can leave their homes only in case of special need, for two hours a day, having previously received sms-permission.

 Many in Baku disagree with these restrictions.  In particular, they are protesting against the limit of two hours, since during this time it is impossible to manage to do important things, for example, go to the doctor.

Also, a large part of the population does not believe the official statistics of infections and deny that there even is a  pandemic to begin with.

Both events – throwing rubbish to the police and singing from the balconies – occurred in the same Yasamal district of Baku.  Locals believe the flash mob was a production organized by the police, though there is no official confirmation of this.

 Some comments from social media:

 “How long will you spend on this pretense and falsehood?”

 “Unsuccessful performance”

 “I really liked it.  Great initiative.  Beat them first, and then make them sing. ”

 “Let’s rejoice that they have such beautiful voices.  So what – they were asked, they sang. I would also sing if I had a voice.”