BAKU - The opposition in Azerbaijan Thursday called for mass street demonstrations to protest the killing of a prominent journalist critical of the former Soviet republic's regime, amid warnings against an uprising from President Ilham Aliyev.
"The people of Azerbaijan must mobilize and organize protest events," the leader of the Popular Front party Ali Kerimli told AFP. "I propose to all who are concerned with the fate of Elmar Huseynov to get together, bid farewell and express our hate for the current regime."
"All the political forces of the nation will be invited to a protest next week demanding punishment for Huseynov's killers," Kerimli added.
Thirty-seven-year-old Elmar Huseynov died after he collapsed bleeding at the door of his family's flat in Baku late Wednesday after being shot.
His death has provoked an outcry among media and human rights groups, which have linked it to Huseynov's work as editor of an opposition weekly The Monitor that has been highly critical of Aliyev.
Another activist called for Huseynov's funeral, planned for Friday, to be transformed into an opposition protest.
"The funeral of Elmar Huseynov should become a protest, we can't take a penny from the government for his funeral because the government ordered this killing," said Iskander Hamidov, a prominent opposition activist.
Huseynov's family has blamed unspecified authorities for his death, saying they had harassed the reporter in the past.
Aliyev ordered a speedy investigation into Huseynov's death Thursday, but in a sign that he was wary of popular dissent in the wake of the murder warned that the situation should not be used to further anyone's political agenda.
"There are forces inside and abroad that could use the current situation to further their own interests," Aliyev told journalists.
"All political forces must behave with restraint and not use this in the interests of their ambitions," Aliyev said.
Tensions between the opposition and the authorities have been on the rise ahead of a parliamentary vote in November, after protests over presidential elections in 2003 ended in clashes between the opposition and riot police.
03/03/2005 15:37 GMT