The Taliban moved to disperse a protest this Saturday where Afghan women continued to demand access to education and work, marking almost a year since the fundamentalist movement seized power on August 15, 2021.
One activist, speaking in a video circulated online, described the scene: the group gathered to raise their voice against the Taliban, but gunfire erupted as authorities pushed to break up the march. In the clip, the activists said they were sheltering inside a pharmacy as the demonstration was dispersed and members were separated.
Video from the scene shows crowds outside the Ministry of Education in Kabul and other locations across the country, with people fleeing amid gunfire and chaos in the background.
women’s protests
Since the Taliban took power nearly a year ago, Afghan women have periodically taken to the streets to protest bans on job access and the closure of workplaces for women, including restrictions targeting girls and women in education.
These demonstrations have not received Taliban endorsement, and in the past, protesters and journalists reporting on them have faced detention and violence.
The Taliban’s August 15 ascent to power represented a major setback for women’s rights in Afghanistan, accompanied by a wave of new restrictions. The regime has repeatedly asserted that schools would reopen for girls age 12 to 18 once educational content could be aligned with Islamic law, a pledge that has not materialized in nearly a year.
The restrictions have drawn sharp criticism from the international community and human rights organizations. Amnesty International has condemned what it calls a suffocating repression that has deeply affected the lives of Afghan women and girls under Taliban rule.
In late May, the U.S. State Department reiterated that the policies limiting women and girls are in line with the religious and cultural practices of Afghanistan’s Muslim majority, a position that continues to prompt debate and concern among Western allies and humanitarian groups alike.