Azerbaijan may be among the most secular, Israel and US-friendly Muslim countries, but the "Innocence of Muslims" movie is taking its toll there, too. Islamic believers on September 28 burned Israeli and US flags in the small town of Nardaran, a conservative hamlet northeast of the capital, Baku.
The protests are unlikely to sway the official position of Baku, which works hard to contain the influence of Islam, is mistrustful of neighboring Iran and looks for closer ties with Washington and Jerusalem. Two days ago, courts in Baku convicted three men in an allegedly Iranian-sponsored plot to assassinate Israeli citizens.
Baku on May 6 saw a brief flare-up of last year's protests against an informal ban on females wearing hijab in Azerbaijani schools, with a clash outside Azerbaijan's Ministry of Education between police and supporters of the traditional Muslim head coverings for women.
Displaying signs in English that asserted that "Hidjab is schoolgirls' constitutional right," the chanting protesters, mostly young men, did not have long to wait for the arrival of baton-waving police. Some demonstrators responded with stones; others with louder chants.
Initial online coverage of the fray, which shut down street traffic outside the ministry for about an hour, came predominantly from Russia and Armenian mainstream news outlets. Azerbaijan's pro-government APA news agency posted a terse brief about the scuffle, noting that local and rapid-reaction police stopped the "unsanctioned protest." Several protesters were arrested and taken into custody, it reported.
