Kabul: Afghan Women Rights Activists Face Tear Gas As Protest Seeking Representation Turns 'Violent'

Afghan women activists staged demonstrations in Kabul with demands of equal rights and decision-making roles in political life in the country’s future government after the Taliban takeover. 

Photo Courtesy: ANI

New Delhi: Women rights activists in Kabul held protests on Saturday seeking rights and representation in the new government and the demonstrations turned violent with Taliban forces preventing them from marching towards the presidential palace.

According to the protesters, Taliban forces used tear gas to stop the protest, TOLOnews reported.

The women in Afghanistan’s capital city are staging protests, demanding their rights and representation in the new government. They want their role in the Taliban government to be significant.

A number of women rights activists and reporters protested for a second day in Kabul on Saturday, TOLOnews wrote on Twitter. 

The protest reportedly turned violent as Taliban forces did not allow the agitators to march toward the Presidential Palace.

A purported video of an injured activist is also being shared on social media.  Etilaatroz news publisher Zaki Daryabi shared a video where a woman, identified as Rabia Sadat, can be seen with a bleeding forehead.

Earlier, a group of Afghan women activists staged a demonstration in Kabul on Friday with demands of equal rights and decision-making roles in political life in the country’s future government. 

A video of the protest was also streamed live by the group that called for the recognition of women's political, economic, and social rights, local media reported. 

These demonstrations had begun with dozens of Afghan women taking to streets in the western Afghan city of Herat on Thursday.

This comes as Afghan women face an uncertain future under the ultra-conservative regime which portrays itself to be more moderate this time but reports of the ground reality present a contrary version. 

Older generations remember the Islamic regime that saw regular stoning and public executions during Taliban rule before the US-led invasion that followed the September 11, 2001, terror attacks. 

Under the Taliban's harsh interpretation of Islamic law, women were largely confined to their homes.