October 18, 2003	Saturday	Sha'aban 21, 1424

BAKU, Oct 17: Riot police were on high alert in Azerbaijan’s capital and opposition leaders were being threatened with arrest on Friday after violent protests at the election of Ilham Aliyev, son of the outgoing leader, left one man dead and dozens injured.

The violence erupted after a presidential election which handed a landslide victory to Aliyev, 41-year-old son of outgoing President Heidar Aliyev, but which the opposition claimed had been rigged in his favour.

The capital of this oil-rich former Soviet republic was calm on Friday morning but armoured personnel carriers and busloads of police in riot gear — some nursing bandaged heads after Thursday’s clashes — were stationed near potential troublespots in the city.

A dozen special forces troops with automatic weapons took up positions inside the central election commission, where a protest had been expected, but the demonstrators did not materialise.

Thursday’s rioting was the worst violence seen in the country since the tumultuous days in the early 1990s when Soviet rule in Azerbaijan was collapsing.—AFP