By: Rukhshana Media
A group of 20 women marched in front of the Taliban Ministry of Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice on Tuesday morning, 10th May, in Kabul to protest against the Taliban Supreme Leader’s new decree on a strict form of compulsory hijab for Afghan women.
The protesters chanted slogans like “we don’t accept the compulsory hijab,” and “the burqa is not our hijab.”
Julia Parsi, one of the organizers of the protest, told Rukhshana Media that the Taliban did not allow the journalists to cover the protest and took them away with them.
She added that the Taliban stopped the women and warned them not to protest again.
“The Taliban fighters surrounded the protesters in front of the Ministry of Propagation of Vice and Prevention of Vice,” Ms. Parsi said. “They did not allow us to read our statement.”
She said the Taliban fighters forcibly seized the smartphones of some women protesters and attacked others, trying to beat them with rifles.
“The Taliban asked us to go to the police station with them to obtain our confessions, but we resisted and told them they could instead kill us there and then,” Ms. Julia said. “We were under siege for nearly two hours.”
She added that the Taliban collected all of their placards and tore them up.
The protesters’ statement, issued later, said that since August last year, nearly all female government employees have become homebound because of Taliban restrictions on women’s public participation. The statement added that people need jobs, education, and security.
This is the second women’s protest since yesterday against the Taliban’s hijab mandate. In the first protest, women urged the international community to stand with the women of Afghanistan for their basic rights.
