(CNN) – Hundreds of people protested on Tuesday in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar against what they say are Taliban orders for citizens to leave their homes on the eve of winter.
Protesters marched in front of the government in the city after 3,500 people living in a government-owned residential area were given three days to leave, two protesters told a local journalist working for CNN by phone.
Protesters, who are also residents of the area, said they were not given the reasons for the eviction order.
“I have nowhere else to go,” said one protester, who declined to give her name for fear of reprisals. He said he was poor after losing many members of his family in recent conflicts.
All the families in the area built their houses with the little money they had and cannot afford to move, the woman said.
Several women protesting carrying the red, black and green Afghan national flag were flogged by the Taliban, according to eyewitnesses. Local television footage shows protesters, including women and children, blocking a road as they marched.
Mohammad Ibrahim, a civil activist in Kandahar, said the Ferqa-i Kohna area, on the outskirts of the provincial capital, was a government-owned area and the land was distributed to government employees under the previous government. . Ibrahim said there were probably irregularities and corruption involved in the transfer of property, which resulted in the illegal sale of property to residents. Some of the families had been living in Ferqa-i Kohna for more than 20 years, he said.
Taliban spokesmen could not be reached for comment on the evictions.
There were reports that the Taliban had prevented a local journalist from doing his job and beat another while covering the demonstration, according to local news station Millat Zagh Radio. CNN cannot independently verify incidents.
Residents march against Taliban eviction order in Kandahar on September 14.
Taliban protests and repression
Protests against the Taliban regime have erupted in various parts of Afghanistan since the militant group took control of the country last month, following the withdrawal of US troops. The Taliban have repressed protests, often with violence, with reports of detained and abused journalists and activists.
Last week, journalists from the Afghan news media EtilaatRoz told CNN that they were detained while covering an Afghan women’s protest against Pakistan’s participation in Afghanistan and demanding equal rights in the capital, Kabul. The protest took place in front of a police station and the two men said they were taken inside and brutally beaten.
During another protest last week, Taliban fighters used whips and sticks against a group of women protesting in Kabul, following the announcement of a hard-line, men-only interim government.
Taliban leaders on Twitter rejected videos shared online about violence in women-led protests. The head of the Cultural Commission, Muhammad Jalal, said the demonstrations were “a deliberate attempt to cause trouble”, adding that “these people do not even represent 0.1% of Afghanistan”.
The Taliban have also tried to curb protests, and a statement issued by the Taliban Interior Ministry last week set strict conditions for any future demonstrations, including prior approval from the Ministry of Justice.
Last week, the United Nations called on the Taliban to “immediately cease the use of force and arbitrary detention of those exercising their right to peaceful assembly and of journalists covering protests.”
The Taliban’s response to peaceful marches in Afghanistan has been “increasingly violent” and has included the use of live ammunition, batons and whips, killing at least 4 people, a spokeswoman for the government said on Friday. the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Ravina Shamdasani, at a press conference in Geneva.
Even before the Taliban returned to power, protracted conflicts, poverty, consecutive droughts, economic decline and the coronavirus pandemic had worsened a situation that was already terrible in which 18 million Afghans, nearly half the population was in need of humanitarian aid, according to UN agencies.
Now that winter is approaching, many people could run out of food by the end of the month, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said earlier this week, adding that rates of poverty had skyrocketed since the Taliban’s return to power.