Afghanistan: Women’s rights protest broken up by Taliban

The women claim they were targeted with tear gas and pepper spray.

Taliban officials have broken up a demonstration by dozens women in Kabul protesting for women's rights following the Islamist group's takeover of Afghanistan. The women say that they were trying to walk from a bridge to the presidential palace, but were targeted with tear gas and pepper spray by the Taliban. Afghan media outlet Tolo News reports that the Taliban claim the protest got out of hand which is why they had to intervene. The protestors were calling for the right to work and be included in that Taliban's new government. https://twitter.com/TOLOnews/status/1434065082183454720 The Taliban have said that women can be involved in government, but will not be given any senior positions. Since the militant group took over Afghanistan there have been major fears for women and women's rights in the country. When the Taliban were last in power from 1996 to 2002, women were forced to cover their faces, weren't allowed to leave their houses alone, and were often given severe punishments for minor offences. There have been a number of women's rights protests in Kabul and Herat since the Taliban takeover, with several reports of atrocities against women emerging as well. Journalist Azita Nazimi told Tolo: "Twenty-five years ago, when the Taliban came, they prevented me from going to school. "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." A demonstrator told Reuters: "Together with a group of our colleagues, we wanted to go near the former government offices for a protest. "But before we got there, the Taliban hit women with electric tasers, and they used tear gas against women. They also hit women on the head with a gun magazine, and the women became bloody. There was no one to ask why." Related links: Taliban ‘brutally’ kills popular Afghan singer days after it said ‘music is forbidden’ Brave Afghan women stand up to Taliban in street protests Taliban set woman on fire for bad cooking, according to reports