"Our glorious nation"- celebrating Flower Day one year later

Thats how I named my post dedicated to Flower Day last year. Today is May 10th, one year later. A day that is now part of the calendar marked red. Millions of manats were spent on the flowers for this holiday, shipped all the way from Holland. Thousands of people were brought (or came themselves) to the park to celebrate. Last year I was there myself, almost got detained. This year, I was following the celebration through Facebook and Twitter. These are just some of the posts of that day:

 

This is another Facebook status update from a frustrated youth:

Commenting on a video from that day, a talented young musician writes this on his Facebook status- "I also want a pair of those magical sun glasses that show everything picture perfect" (see the link to full video posted on Facebook below the comment):

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=1463816995196

Though the video above is in Azerbaijani I would like to share some of the best quotes:

"cox yaxshi teshkil olunub- hem usaqlar ucun sevincli, hem boyukler ucun sevincli" (woman from the video)" (rough translation: this was organized very well- it brings happiness for both kids and the elders)

"yoldash prezident bicim ucun yaradir bu seyleri" (old woman form the video saying "compatriot President creates these things for us")

"xarici olkelerde hami bizim bu gul bayramindan danisir, hami burda olmaq isteyir" (everyone talks about this flower holiday abroad, everyone wants to be here)

I especially loved the last comment. Haha!!! "Everyone wants to be here" or no, actually the old woman's comment is even better "our compatriot president creates these things for us!"

A short flash protest was held on the boulevard, before the concert planned for that night. Here is the footage from that protest:

But it wasn't all so nice and pretty. Traffic was a disaster today due to roads being shut down at the most busiest part of downtown. People were basically tossed around by the police, telling them where they can go and where they can't. The underground passes were all shut down. There was heavy police guard everywhere and in a video below, police officer tells a group of youngsters to "dagilin" (disperse) at another park near by and right across the headquarters of the Leading Ruling Party (YAP).

 

The footage below is also from today:

Now, I wasn't there, and on one hand, I am glad. I didn't have to see the absurdity of this holiday or how people were bossed around or how Azerbaijani youth was frustrated. It is estimated that the government spent another ridiculous number on this holiday. Perhaps, it would have been more of a holiday if all the millions spent on these flowers (that will go bad in few days and will be thrown into trash) were instead spent on pensions- what if, for once, on the day of Flower day, all the pensioners got additional bonus? Why not feed homeless kids on that day? Or open bank accounts for several hundred orphans for their future? Or channel it to some other initiative? 

I am not an advisor, but perhaps someone would consider these as an advice? I think everyone would be so much happier and I am sure those who praised this day today, would praise it even more. 

Just a thought out there...