Video: Afghan Girls protest the closure of schools

The Taliban government of Afghanistan has closed secondary schools just days after classes began. Dozens of girls protested on Saturday in an eastern Afghan city. Photographs shared on social media show locals and business owners watching the girls march through the city’s core.

Following demands from hundreds of girls and tribal leaders, five government secondary schools in the eastern province of Patkia resumed classes last week. However, when the students showed up for class on Saturday, they were instructed to go home.

“This morning when they did not allow girls to enter schools, we held a protest,” said activist Yasmin, one of the organisers of the rally.

“The Taliban did not allow anyone to take footage of the protest. In fact, they broke some protesters’ mobile phones,” Yasmin told AFP by telephone.

“The students protested peacefully, but soon the rally was dispersed by security forces,” one Gardez resident who asked not to be named told AFP.

The Taliban administration this year in March announced that girls’ high schools in Afghanistan will be closed, and no female child above the sixth grade will be allowed to attend school. The announcement came only a few hours after they reopened for the first time in nearly seven months.