Taliban beat and shoot at women for protesting against school bombing – report

Witnesses said that Taliban even opened fire at the women gathered outside the Kaaj Educational Centre in Dasht-e-Barchi, a Hazara-dominant neighbourhood in western Kabul

Afghan women display placards and chant slogans during a protest they call Stop Hazara genocide a day after a suicide bomb attack at Dasht-e-Barchi learning centre, in Kabul on October 1, 2022 (AFP via Getty Images)

Eye-witnesses have described how women protesting over the suicide bombing of an education centre in Kabul a few days ago were beaten and even shot at by Taliban fighters on Saturday.

The Taliban’s security forces opened fire to disburse the demonstration outside the Kaaj Educational Centre in Dasht-e-Barchi, a Hazara-dominant neighbourhood in western Kabul.

The group was protesting the killing of Hazara women between the age of 18-24 in the suicide bombing on Friday. The attack unfolded around 7.30am at one branch of the Kaaj Centre, a private organisation that offers tutoring, at a time when hundreds of students had gathered there to take a mock nationwide university entrance exam.

One Hazara woman told The Guardian: “We were marching together and chanting for justice for our Hazara sisters who were murdered yesterday. This is a genocide of the Hazaras and all we want is education and freedom.”

She continued: “The Taliban will never protect us and they can’t represent us in the international community. They attacked us with the edge of their guns and beat us up. I am still in pain as I speak.”

The women who protested held placards that read “Stop Hazara genocide, it’s not a crime to be a Shiite”. Another read: “Stop killing Hazaras”.

Earlier, local reports described how a gunman shot at guards outside the education centre, and then entered a classroom before detonating a bomb. Hundreds of students were in the room at the time.

In a statement, Unicef said that it was “appalled by the horrific attack”. It added that the “heinous act” that claimed the lives of dozens of adolescent girls and boys and severely injured many more and the violence in any educational environment was “never acceptable”.

Other women who were protesting the killings were quoted as saying by Rukhsana Media, an Afghan digital outlet, that the Taliban dispersed the protesters using aerial shots and shock batons. The Taliban also barred others from joining the protests and beat those who took pictures and videos as well.

Another woman protester said that “the Talib sprayed pepper spray in our eyes, whipped us and humiliated us by calling us prostitutes who take money from the west to protest”.

There have been other protests in other parts of Afghanistan over the suicide bombing, the latest incident targeting the minority Hazara population. The same education centre was also attacked in 2018, and dozens of students were killed.