The Taliban has used water cannons, tear gas and warning shots to break up a demonstration of beauticians.
Two demonstrators, who asked not to be named, told Rukhshana Media that about 50 beauticians gathered in Shahr-e-Naw Kabul at 9 am on Wednesday to protest the Taliban’s ban on beauty salons.
The demonstration started with women chanting slogans such as “bread, work, and freedom”, “justice”, “don’t take our work” and “stealing women’s bread is theft”.
One witness said that just minutes after the street protest started, Taliban forces surrounded them and fired guns in the air and used water cannons to disperse them.
They attacked a number of female beauticians, smashing their phones to destroy videos and photos of the protest. A protester sent a voice message to Rukhshana Media claiming that the Taliban also used batons.
One teenage girl told Rukhshana Media that the Taliban forces detained beauticians and took them away to an unknown location. The identities of those arrested is not yet known. Other demonstrators hid in nearby beauty salons and houses.
“I am a 16-year-old girl and I participated in the demonstration to support my mother and sisters,” she said.
“The Taliban fired at us and threw tear gas on us. They used a shock button on me and beat my ribs. I am now running from alley to alley and the Taliban are following me with dark film on their car windows.”
Another protester told Rukhshana Media that they protested because the Taliban were taking away their livelihood. “We lost our bread, our lives, and bear lots of hardships so that we could have a job and a source of income for ourselves,” she said. “But they [the Taliban] want to take it from us.”
The Taliban has ordered beauty salons to close by July 25.
