The Azerbaijani capital Baku will be hosting the final stage of the Eurovision Song contest on Saturday.<br /><br />The authorities in Azerbaijan are making the occasion of hosting the contest as a centrepiece of its efforts to make Baku an international cultural capital.<br /><br />However, rights-activists say the government has spent a record $100m directly on one of the world's longest-running and most widely watched musical events.<br /><br />Local residents have been forced out of their homes to make way for "city beautification", with about 4,000 apartments demolished and up to 50,000 people evicted across the country .<br /><br />Al Jazeera's Sohail Rahman reports from Baku.
