“We were not allowed to protest” say women protestors in Afganistan

Special Desk

Unarmed women protestors demanding rights following the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan were stopped with tear gas allege the protestors.
The women group say the Taliban targeted them with tear gas and pepper spray as they tried to walk from a bridge to the presidential palace during the protest march. Taliban however maintain the protest got out of control.

Women protestors were marching on road and had loudspeakers through which they raised slogans in support of their demands for rights of women in the country. The women protestors as seen in the video were marching on one side of the road while traffic was seen moving as usual when Taliban officials and armed men came to them and stopped them.

Armed men had guns on their shoulders. According to a media house in Afganistan that also shared a video of the women protestors and Taliban officials on road trying to face each other the women were marching towards presidential palace.

It was one among the recent protests by women in Kabul and Herat. Women in the country they would soon be treated the same way they were treated when the Taliban were previously in power, between 1996 and 2001. Women were forced to cover their faces going outside, and harsh punishments were meted out for minor transgressions.

The women protestors were calling for the right to work and to be included in the government. The Taliban have said women can be involved in government, but not hold ministerial positions. The Taliban say they will announce the make-up of their administration.

“Twenty-five years ago, when the Taliban came, they prevented me from going to school,” Azita Nazimi said. “After five years of their rule, I studied for 25 years and worked hard. For the sake of our better future, we will not allow this to happen.”

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Another demonstrator, Soraya, said, “They also hit women on the head with a gun magazine, and the women became bloody.”

Meanwhile the UK’s Head of the Armed Forces, General Sir Nick Carter, defended military intelligence over criticism it failed to predict the Taliban’s advance, saying even the Taliban themselves were surprised at how easily they took control.