A young girl who shouted "freedom" was among dozens of people arrested as police in Azerbaijan snuffed out protests against the rule of president Ilham Aliyev.
Officials said 25 of those detained were later released following demonstrations in the capital Baku.
It was the latest abortive attempt by the opposition in the ex-Soviet republic to emulate recent uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa.
Reporters saw at least a dozen people bundled into police vans at a square in the city, including two Swedish journalists and a woman walking with her young child.
An opposition spokesman said several hundred had been arrested in various parts of Baku.
Flyers were scattered on the ground calling on hardline leader Aliyev to resign and for an "End to Dictatorship".
Small protests over the past several weeks have been given short shrift by authorities in the mainly Muslim country of nine million people, with more than 100 detained in April and March.
Azerbaijan is a major energy supplier to Europe and a transit route for US troops in Afghanistan.
Human rights groups say this has cushioned the country against Western critics of its record on democracy.
Source :
http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/Wor...Demonstrations 
