A group of women marching in Kabul on Sunday morning were violently dispersed by Taliban forces and some have been detained, according to other women who were present.
The march began at Pole Sokhta in west Kabul around 10.00am with more than 25 women and girls demanding the reopening of schools and universities across the country, with placards and slogans such as “Don’t politicize education”, “Education is our redline”, and “Education is our right”.
One of the protesters, who has asked to remain anonymous, said Taliban forces dispersed the group and arrested Roqiya Sai, Fatima Mohammadi and Malalai Hashemi as the group reached Mohammad Asif Mayel School in District 6 around 11.00am.
“We had reached close to Asif’s school when the Taliban forces surrounded us from all sides. We all wanted to escape. We panicked and did not know what to do,” she told Rukhshana Media.
“A number of girls, including myself, managed to get away. But the Taliban arrested three of the protesters,” she said, adding that one of the girls was seriously injured in the leg while escaping also.
“I don’t know how I escaped,” she said. “We were all scattered. I went to an alley then to other alleys and finally after an hour I could escape.”
In a photo sent to Rukshana Media, protesters are holding the placards that read, “No government is stable without women”, “Afghan girls and womens fate has been kept hostage”, “Afghan women have been eliminated from society”, and “Freedom, work, education”.
The demonstration took place as the new academic year begins in Afghanistan to protest against the Taliban ongoing ban on girls and women receiving an education.
