The Taliban Shoots At And Beat Male Students Who Protested Females Being Banned From Class

Taliban security forces have used violence and arrested several people as they dispersed a protest by Afghan women against a ruling that bans female students from universities.

Afghanistan's Taliban announced the decision to forbid women from universities late on December 20 in a letter from the Islamist group's education ministry to higher education institutions, drawing immediate condemnation from the international community and the United Nations.

A group of some 50 women dressed in hijabs, some wearing masks, gathered in the capital, Kabul, on December 22 for a peaceful protest march against the move, chanting slogans against the ban, but were attacked and dispersed by Taliban security forces, participants and witnesses told RFE/RL.

The participants intended to gather outside Kabul University, Afghanistan's largest and most prestigious higher education institution, but switched to a different location after a large number of security forces members were deployed there.

One of the women who attended the march, Basira, told RFE/RL that security forces beat some of the participants and took them away, while others managed to escape. A number of journalists covering the protest have been reportedly detained, too.

"Unfortunately, the Taliban turned our protest into violence once again," she told RFE/RL.