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KABUL (Reuters) – Security officials fired in the air on Wednesday and used fire hoses to disperse dozens of Afghan women protesting in Kabul against an order by Taliban authorities to close beauty salons, the latest to cut them off from public life.
Since seizing power in August 2021, the Taliban government has banned girls and women from attending secondary schools and universities, barred them from parks, galleries, and gyms, and ordered them to cover up in public.
The order, issued last month, forces the closure of thousands of beauty salons run by women across the country — often the only source of income for families — and bans one of their few remaining opportunities to socialize away from home.
“Don’t take my bread and water,” read a banner held by one of the demonstrators in Butcher Street, home to a crowd of the capital’s saloons.
Public protests are rare in Afghanistan – and they are often dispersed by force – but AFP saw around 50 women take part in a rally on Wednesday, quickly attracting the attention of security personnel.
Protesters later shared videos and photos with journalists showing authorities using a fire hose to disperse them as gunshots could be heard in the background.
“Today we arranged this demonstration to talk and negotiate,” said a salon worker whose name was not published by AFP for security reasons.
“But today, no one came to talk to us, to listen to us. They didn’t pay any attention to us, and after a while they dispersed us with aerial bombardment and water cannons.”
In late June, the Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice gave saloons a month to close, saying a grace period would allow them to use the stock.
She said that she issued the order because the exorbitant sums spent on plastic surgery caused difficulties for poor families, and that some treatments in salons were contrary to Islamic law.
The ministry said that excessive makeup prevents women from performing proper ablutions for prayer, while eyelash extensions and hair weaving are also prohibited.
A copy of the order, seen by AFP, said it was “based on verbal instructions from the supreme leader.” Hebatullah Akhundzadeh.
Beauty salons have proliferated across Kabul and other Afghan cities in the 20 years that US-led forces have occupied the country.
They were seen as a safe place to congregate and socialize away from men and to provide vital employment opportunities for women.
A report for the UN Human Rights Council last month by Richard Bennett, the special rapporteur for Afghanistan, said the plight of women and girls in the country “was among the worst in the world”.
“Severe, systematic and institutionalized discrimination against women and girls is at the core of the Taliban’s ideology and rule, raising concerns that they may be responsible for gender apartheid,” Bennett said.
Akhundzada, who rarely appears in public and rules by decree from the Taliban’s hometown of Kandahar, said last month that Afghan women had been rescued from “traditional oppression” by adopting Islamic rule and restored to their status as “free and dignified human beings.”
In a statement on the occasion of the blessed Eid al-Adha, he said steps had been taken to provide a “comfortable and prosperous life in accordance with Islamic law”.
Women have also been mostly barred from working for the United Nations or NGOs, and thousands have been laid off from government jobs or paid to stay at home.
Since seizing power in August 2021, the Taliban government has banned girls and women from attending secondary schools and universities, barred them from parks, galleries, and gyms, and ordered them to cover up in public.
The order, issued last month, forces the closure of thousands of beauty salons run by women across the country — often the only source of income for families — and bans one of their few remaining opportunities to socialize away from home.
“Don’t take my bread and water,” read a banner held by one of the demonstrators in Butcher Street, home to a crowd of the capital’s saloons.
Public protests are rare in Afghanistan – and they are often dispersed by force – but AFP saw around 50 women take part in a rally on Wednesday, quickly attracting the attention of security personnel.
Protesters later shared videos and photos with journalists showing authorities using a fire hose to disperse them as gunshots could be heard in the background.
“Today we arranged this demonstration to talk and negotiate,” said a salon worker whose name was not published by AFP for security reasons.
“But today, no one came to talk to us, to listen to us. They didn’t pay any attention to us, and after a while they dispersed us with aerial bombardment and water cannons.”
In late June, the Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice gave saloons a month to close, saying a grace period would allow them to use the stock.
She said that she issued the order because the exorbitant sums spent on plastic surgery caused difficulties for poor families, and that some treatments in salons were contrary to Islamic law.
The ministry said that excessive makeup prevents women from performing proper ablutions for prayer, while eyelash extensions and hair weaving are also prohibited.
A copy of the order, seen by AFP, said it was “based on verbal instructions from the supreme leader.” Hebatullah Akhundzadeh.
Beauty salons have proliferated across Kabul and other Afghan cities in the 20 years that US-led forces have occupied the country.
They were seen as a safe place to congregate and socialize away from men and to provide vital employment opportunities for women.
A report for the UN Human Rights Council last month by Richard Bennett, the special rapporteur for Afghanistan, said the plight of women and girls in the country “was among the worst in the world”.
“Severe, systematic and institutionalized discrimination against women and girls is at the core of the Taliban’s ideology and rule, raising concerns that they may be responsible for gender apartheid,” Bennett said.
Akhundzada, who rarely appears in public and rules by decree from the Taliban’s hometown of Kandahar, said last month that Afghan women had been rescued from “traditional oppression” by adopting Islamic rule and restored to their status as “free and dignified human beings.”
In a statement on the occasion of the blessed Eid al-Adha, he said steps had been taken to provide a “comfortable and prosperous life in accordance with Islamic law”.
Women have also been mostly barred from working for the United Nations or NGOs, and thousands have been laid off from government jobs or paid to stay at home.
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