A gathering of youths to mark the first anniversary of the mass killing at Azerbaijan’s State Oil Academy was forcibly dispersed by police in Baku today. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reports that dozens of the mourners were arrested.

A source in Baku told TOL there was no television coverage of the gathering and the police crackdown, but the day’s events were widely reported online, including on social sites such as Facebook and Twitter. Videos like the one below quickly showed up on YouTube, and on the unofficial online Azeri broadcaster ANTV.

Twelve people were killed one year ago today by a gunman who opened fire on students and teachers at the university before killing himself. Initial government efforts to downplay the tragedy generated widespread anger among Oil Academy students and young activists.

WIth diplomatic progress on Nagorno-Karabakh still glacial, the BBC has a nice bit of on-the-ground reporting today, balancing the usual mix of cautious optimism and bellicosity from Baku and Yerevan with glimpses of the tense communities, ghost towns and concrete trenches of the disputed territory. Notwithstanding Azerbaijan’s recent military build-up and rumors of Russian arms shipments to Armenia, the Beeb concludes that for now “there appears to be no imminent prospect of war.”

Maybe somebody should get the word to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliev, whom Mosnews.com quotes today as declaring his country “is ready to restore its territorial intergrity by military means any time.” Perhaps Baku’s president-for-life isn’t subscribing to the World Service.