A number of women held a demonstration in the Charai Sedarat area of Kabul, where they called for justice and for the upholding of women’s rights.
The protestors chanted the slogan “bread, work and freedom” and urged the caretaker government to observe the rights of women and girls.
Protesters said Islamic Emirate forces fired into the air.
“We had a protest. The Taliban violated our protest. They shot into the air and detained the girls for around two to three hours. (Islamic Emirate forces) seized their phones,” a protestor said.
“The Afghan women will not take their hands away from their struggles and fights ,” said a protester.
The Islamic Emirate’s forces arrested foreign journalists and a TOLOnews’ reporter, who were covering the protests.
The reporter from TOLOnews was released after being detained for six hours. However, the camera of TOLOnews, which was taken by the Islamic Emirate forces, has so far not been returned.
“They have taken my camera and wanted to detain me, but I fortunately found a way to escape,” said Ahmadshah, a cameraman of TOLOnews.
“During today’s protest, a TOLOnews reporter was detained by the security forces in the area for nearly five hours. Our cameraman was beaten. The camera was taken from him, which we have not received yet. We are unhappy about this action and we consider it against the freedom of speech and independent media,” said Zirak Faheem, deputy director of TOLOnews.
“Such detentions cause the weakening of freedom of speech and cause distance between journalists, media and the Islamic Emirate. The only way to overcome it is to form the commission of media violation. Then, whenever there is a problem, it will be met through this commission,” said Fawad Beroz, deputy head of the Union of Freelance Journalists of Afghanistan.
The protest was held in Kabul, during which protestors called for justice and freedom.
“I am not afraid of death. I will not stop myself from asking for freedom, justice, equality, brotherhood … or to protest the deprivation of our children, who are not allowed an education,” said Mohammad Sabir Ensandost, a professor.
Shila Ensandost, a schoolteacher and the wife of the professor, was among the protestors and was wearing a white cloth. “Define Islam in a genuine and basic manner. You are suppressing women, but it has been 20 years that democracy has sung in the ears of women,” she said.
Somiya, the daughter of Ensandost, expressed concern, saying that she is among the thousands of girls who have been banned from school.
“We have been deprived of education,” she said. “Many women, who are here now, have been deprived of work. We ask the Islamic Emirate to give us the right to be educated.”
Protestors who gathered around the family voiced similar demands from the Islamic Emirate. “They are at home and jobless,” said a resident of Kabul named Sadaf. “They are hungry, we haven’t gone to school yet and this is a very hopeless situation for us, that we are not going to school.”
According to the protestors, many people were invited to the demonstration but presumably due to fear they refrained from participating.
Ensandost said: “I took ablution so that if I die on the street, I have done my duty. I am not avoiding this because hopelessness has surged these days.”
