The Rapid Police Unit (RPU) then intervened and dispersed the protestors, numbering around 700 to 800 people, in the early hours of 13 July.

[2][3] On 14 July, after the deaths of Major General Polad Hashimov and Colonel Ilgar Mirzayev during the border clashes with Armenia, about 30[4] to 50[5] thousand people, calling for the end of the COVID-19 pandemic-related quarantine, war against Armenia, country-wide mobilisation and the resignation of Najmeddin Sadikov, the chief of general staff of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces,[6] demonstrated in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan and Sumgayit,[7] with smaller rallies in support of the military in other cities around Azerbaijan.

[8] After the initial demonstrations, a smaller group stormed the Parliament building,[9] protesting the government's inaction,[10] though security forces later evicted them.

According to Zaur Shiriyev, a Baku-based analyst for the International Crisis Group, the death of Hashimov and other high-ranking officers was a "turning point" and had "changed people's minds".

Azerbaijan rejected the request several times,[21] and ethnic violence began shortly after with a series of pogroms between 1988 and 1990 against Armenians in Sumgait, Ganja and Baku,[22][23][24][25] and against Azerbaijanis in Gugark[26][27][28] and Stepanakert.

[30] The 1994 Bishkek Protocol brought the fighting to an end and resulted in significant Armenian territorial gains: in addition to controlling most of Nagorno-Karabakh, the Republic of Artsakh also occupied the surrounding Azerbaijani populated districts of Agdam, Jabrayil, Fuzuli, Kalbajar, Qubadli, Lachin and Zangilan.

[31] The terms of the Bishkek agreement produced a frozen conflict,[32] and long-standing international mediation attempts to create a peace process were initiated by the OSCE Minsk Group in 1994, with the interrupted Madrid Principles being the most recent iteration prior to 2020.

[33][34] The United Nations Security Council adopted four resolutions in 1993 calling for the withdrawal of "occupying forces" from the territories surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh,[a] and in 2008 the General Assembly adopted a resolution demanding the immediate withdrawal of Armenian occupying forces,[35] although the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, Russia, France and the United States, voted against it.

[37] In August 2019, in a declaration in favour of unification, the Armenian prime minister Nikol Pashinyan stated "Artsakh is Armenia, full stop".

[40] The skirmishes were conducted mainly through artillery and drones, without infantry,[41] and were of varying intensity, injuring many, and killing at least 17 military and one civilian.

Among Azerbaijani military casualties were high-ranking officers, including Major General Polad Hashimov and Colonel Ilgar Mirzayev.

[43] Azerbaijan's minister of defence, Zakir Hasanov, chief of general staff, Najmaddin Sadigov, and, the mayor of Baku, Eldar Azizov, attended the funeral.

[48] On 12 July, despite COVID-19 regulations, mass pro-war protests erupted at night in Gobu Park, near Baku, where the Azerbaijani internally displaced persons (IDPs) live.

[11] The demonstrators, waving the Azerbaijani flag, called for the end of the COVID-19 pandemic related quarantine, mobilisation and a war against Armenia to retake the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region.

[8] On the same day, a video calling for mobilisation on behalf of Azerbaijan's minister of defence, Zakir Hasanov, was spread on the social media.

The Azerbaijani Ministry of Internal Affairs claimed that the video was fake, though local social media users disputed this.

Apart from support for the army and calls for war,[11] the demonstrators demanded the resignation of the chief of general staff of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces and the deputy minister of defence, Najmeddin Sadikov,[6] who was suspected of giving the coordinates of Polad Hashimov's location to the Armenian authorities, leading to his death.

[58][59] The Azerbaijani Ministry of Internal Affairs accused the demonstrators of deliberately disobeying the demands of police officers and attacking them with stones and other objects.

[11] After that, security forces used water cannons, tear gas and batons to disperse those gathered in front of the Parliament building.

Political analyst Rashad Shirin attributed the government's reluctance to appear in public to the "fact that they were not used to speaking ... and were not prepared for such a tense situation".

Isa Gambar, head of the National Centre for Strategic Thought, said the government had "no influential people to bring" before the crowd.

Zahid Oruj, an Azerbaijani MP and head of the Centre for Social Research, believed that it was wrong to approach the issue through the prism of government officials failing to appear before the crowd.

On 15 July, the Prosecutor General's Office and the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Azerbaijan announced they had launched a criminal case against a group of individuals during a rally in support of the army in Baku and that investigative measures were being taken.

On the same day, a statement issued on behalf of the Azerbaijani Parliament condemned the actions of "some provocateurs aimed at destruction and damage".

Azerbaijani MP Zahid Oruj said those who "draw conclusions from the president's speech as disappointing distort the real purpose of the head of state".