Clash Over Hijab Ban in Azerbaijan

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/06/world/asia/azerbaijan-sees-clashes-over-hijab-ban.html

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BAKU, Azerbaijan (Agence France-Presse) — The police in Azerbaijan’s capital on Friday clashed with about 200 Muslim activists who were protesting a ban on the wearing of head scarves in the nation’s secondary schools.

Police officers wielding batons fought running battles with protesters in the capital, Baku, as they broke up the rally outside the Education Ministry.

Video of the clashes posted on the Web site of Radio Azadliq showed officers beating some of the protesters with their batons and some activists fighting back with sticks.

Several police officers were injured, and 72 people were arrested, the police said.

Some of the protesters carried placards with slogans like “Stop Islamophobia” and “Freedom for the hijab.”

The Muslim head scarf, or hijab, is prohibited under rules that define what kind of uniforms students must wear in Azerbaijan, a mainly Shiite Muslim country where the authorities have been seeking to prevent the rise of radical Islam.