Azerbaijan opposition pro-democracy march

Several thousand opposition supporters in Azerbaijan have been holding a rally in the capital, Baku calling for free and democratic elections later this year.

They were also demanding the release of opposition activists detained at the end of April when police violently broke up an earlier, unauthorised opposition protest.

The latest rally was given official permission.

One opposition leader who lives in exile -- a former president, Ayz Mutallibov -- said the demonstration was part of efforts to create democratic conditions and it was a positive step that the authorities allowed the march to go ahead. In December, a Council of Europe mission pointed to serious irregularities in Azerbaijan's municipal elections, which involved vote-tampering and intimidation of the opposition and the media.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service