Taliban disperse small protest by six women in Kabul with gunfire

The taliban They interrupted with shots in the air this Thursday a demonstration of six Afghans who claimed in Kabul their right to education, confirmed several AFP journalists.

At around 8:00 AM (03:30 GMT), three young women in veils and masks unfurled a banner proclaiming in English and Dari: “Don’t politicize education!” in front of the Rabia Balkhi Secondary School for Girls in East Kabul.

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“Don’t break our pens, don’t burn our books, don’t close our schools”, it read on the banner, accompanied by a photo of veiled girls in a classroom.

When three other protesters had joined them, one with the poster “Education is human identity,” a dozen armed Taliban arrived.

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They were pushed back toward the entrance door of the school. One of them snatched the banner from them, while the others attacked foreign journalists to try to prevent them from filming the scene.

A Taliban fighter (left) makes a hand gesture asking photojournalists to stop covering a women’s demonstration in Kabul on September 30, 2021. (BULENT KILIC / AFP).

A Taliban fired a short burst of shots into the air with his machine gun.

The protesters took refuge inside the educational establishment and the Taliban chased the cameramen and photographers, trying to seize their cameras. One of them shot a foreign cameraman with his butt.

They were responding to the orders of an unarmed young man, equipped with a walkie-talkie, who said his name was Mawlawi Nasratullah, head of the Taliban special forces for Kabul and its region.

He asked his men to bring together about ten journalists, all of them from the international press, and addressed them.

“I respect journalists, but this demonstration has not been authorized”, said. “The authorities of the (Islamic) Emirate of Afghanistan had not been informed. That is why there are no Afghan journalists here. “

A protester argues with a member of the Taliban during a protest outside a school in Kabul on September 30, 2021. (BULENT KILIC / AFP).

“If they had asked for authorization to demonstrate, they would have had it”, he claimed.

“I respect the rights of women”he added, surrounded by armed men. “You have tried to cover an illegal demonstration. I remind you that in modern countries, France or the United States, the police beat protesters, “he added.

The demonstration was called on the internet by a group called “Spontaneous Movement of Women Activists in Afghanistan.”

In early September, armed Taliban dispersed demonstrations in several cities, including Kabul, Faizabad and Herat, where two people were killed.

The Taliban, in power since mid-August, have banned all demonstrations in the country since September 8 and have for now excluded women from secondary education.

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