Dozens of Afghan women protested the ban on beauty salons on Wednesday after the Taliban ordered their closure across the country. Security forces used fire hoses and stun guns and fired their weapons into the air to break up the protest.
The Taliban said this month they were giving all salons in Afghanistan a month to liquidate their businesses and go out of business, prompting concern from international officials worried about the impact on women entrepreneurs. The Taliban say they are outlawing the halls because they offer services prohibited by Islam and cause financial hardship for the families of the bride and groom during the wedding festivities.
The ruling came from Taliban leader Hibatullah Akhundzada, the latest restriction on the rights and freedoms of Afghan women and girls following edicts banning them from education, public spaces and most forms of employment.
In a rare sign of public opposition to the Taliban’s orders, dozens of beauticians and makeup artists gathered in the capital Kabul to protest the ban.
“We are here for justice,” said a protester who gave her name as Farzana. “We want work, food and freedom.”
The Taliban sprayed the women with water and fired their rifles into the air to disperse the gathering.
Farzana later said the women were going to the UN mission in Afghanistan and urged the protesters to stick together.
A protester told The Associated Press that the demonstration began around 10 a.m. in the Shar-e-Naw area of the capital. He did not want to give his name for fear of reprisals.
“The purpose of our demonstration was for them to reconsider and reverse the decision to close the beauty salons, because this is about our lives,” she said. “We all participated, between 50 and 60 women. Our motto was ‘work, bread and freedom’”.
The protest continued until the afternoon, when the Taliban arrived to disperse the crowd, he said. They used stun guns against the protesters.
“They put two or three of our friends in the car and took them away,” he said.
No one from the Taliban-led government was immediately available for comment on the protest.
The UN mission in Afghanistan, known as UNAMA, criticized the Taliban’s use of force to disperse the protesters.
“Reports of the forcible suppression of a peaceful protest by women against the ban on beauty salons, the latest denial of women’s rights in #Afghanistan, are deeply concerning,” the UN mission said. said on Twitter. “Afghans have the right to express their opinions without violence. The de facto authorities must defend this.”
Meanwhile, the Taliban-run Ministry for Vice and Virtue, which announced a ban on beauty salons in early July, said on Wednesday it was destroying property and instruments used to “promote music and corruption” and posted photos of bonfires on Twitter.
“These materials, which were collected from immoral programs in Kabul and some provinces in recent months, causing the loss of our youth and the deterioration of society, have been destroyed in accordance with Sharia,” or Islamic law, the ministry tweeted.
