Protest rally held outside British Embassy in Baku

Baku, June 11, AZERTAC Representatives of Youth Organizations in Azerbaijan have today held a protest rally outside the Embassy of the United Kingdom of Great Britain in Baku. The protesters chanted slogans “England, avoid double standards!”, “What has London platform to do with human rights?!”, “Not force, but right is working in Azerbaijan!”. Then the resolution was read out and presented to the Embassy. The resolution reads: “The first European Games will start in the Baku Olympic Stadium tomorrow. Great work has been done to ensure the excellent organization of this grandiose event, which will bring together more than 6,000 athletes from 50 countries, all conditions have been created for athletes, journalists and guests of our city in a short period of time. Although it is a remarkable event in the public and cultural life of the continent, some circles are campaigning widely to downplay the Games and discredit Azerbaijan, spreading information full of slander and lie through mass media and non-governmental organizations, and organizing other campaigns. Unfortunately, the media organizations and NGOs of the United Kingdom, BBC Radio, The Guardian and The Independent newspapers, Platform London organization are more zealous on this front, and stand at the forefront of those who conduct a smear campaign. The UK government remains silent and in many cases comprehensively supports provocations of anti-Azerbaijan network, rather than inspiring a 150-member delegation of TEAM GB, who arrived in Baku. Such hypocritical position of the government of a country, which earns billions of pounds at the cost of Azerbaijan's economic potential, natural and intellectual resources, surely causes surprise and anger. We strongly condemn biased and hypocritical policy of the government of the United Kingdom, and urge it to avoid being involved in a smear campaign aimed at exerting political pressure on our country.”