The Taliban violently dispersed a women’s demonstration for the right to work and education in Kabul on Saturday, almost a year after the Islamists came to power in Afghanistan.
About 40 women chanting “Bread, Work and Freedom” marched in front of the Ministry of Education before a group of Taliban fighters dispersed them with gunfire in the air about 5 minutes into the march.
Air kicks and kicks
The protesters carried a banner that read: “August 15 is a black day”, referring to the date of the 2021 capture of Kabul by the Taliban.
“Justice, justice. We are fed up with ignorance,” they chanted before violently dispersing.
Taliban in military uniform and armed with assault rifles blocked a crossroads in front of the protesters and began firing into the air for long seconds. One of them simulated a shooting aimed at the protesters.
Some protesters then took refuge in nearby shops, where the Taliban chased them and beat them with rifle butts. They also confiscated cell phones from the protesters. The Taliban have also beaten up journalists.
Women’s freedoms are gradually being curtailed
Demonstrations by women demanding more rights have been increasingly rare in the capital, especially after the arrest earlier this year of the organizers of these demonstrations, some of whom were detained for several weeks.
Since their return to power last August, fundamentalist Islamists have gradually eroded the freedoms won by women in the last 20 years since the fall of their previous regime (1996-2001).
They have imposed a series of restrictions on civil society, many of which are aimed at subjecting women to their fundamentalist conception of Islam. In particular, the Islamists have largely excluded the latter from public employment, restricted their right to move and banned girls from university and secondary school.
The latest restriction dates back to early May, when the government issued an edict, backed by the Taliban and Afghan Supreme Leader Hibatullah Akhundzada, forcing women to wear full-face veils in public.
Taliban urge women to ‘stay home’
The Taliban clarified that they preferred the burqa, this usually blue full-face veil with eye-level mesh, but that other types of veils that exposed only the eyes would be tolerated.
They also felt that unless women had a compelling reason to go out, it was “better for them to stay home.”
Over the last two decades, Afghan women have gained new freedoms, going back to school or applying for jobs in all sectors of activity, even if the country remains socially conservative.
Source: BFM TV