Kabul police open fire as crowds try to storm presidential palace
Source: The Guardian
Police opened fire to disperse protesters trying to scale the walls of the presidential palace in Kabul on Wednesday, as anger grew over the decapitation of seven civilians in southern Afghanistan by militants believed to be loyal to Islamic State.
Officials said seven people had been injured when shots were fired into the air as thousands gathered in the Afghan capital to call for the resignation of the country’s president, Ashraf Ghani.
In a sign of growing violence between the Taliban and self-proclaimed Isis militants, the decapitated bodies of seven Hazaras, a Shia minority, were found on Saturday in Zabul province. The victims had been taken hostage about a month ago on the road from Jaghori district in Ghazni province to Kandahar.
The Hazaras have historically suffered persecution, and many protesters on Tuesday and Wednesday demanded an end to what they called targeted killings. “The government is not taking the protection of Hazaras seriously,” said Mohammad Jawad, 29.
Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/nov/11/kabul-police-fire-at-crowd-trying-to-storm-presidential-palace
Afghan police fired warning shots into thousands of Afghans who were protesting in Kabul this week after seven people were beheaded by militants linked to ISIS in the southern city of Zabul.
The protesters marched approximately six miles in the rain to the presidential palace, carrying photos of the victims with their throats slashed and chanting, “The Taliban are committing crimes and the government is supporting them.” People took to Twitter, using the hashtags #KabulProtest and #ZabulSeven, to condemn the murders and keep updated on the demonstrations. An estimated 20,000 people protested on Wednesday, and at least 7,000 protested Tuesday. At least seven were reportedly injured after the police fired into the crowd.
Outrage sparked in the streets of the Afghan capital and across social media Tuesday and Wednesday after the killers were seen dumping the partially beheaded bodies of their victims, who included two children, Reuters reported. Thousands called on the government to find and punish the killers, but many did not think President Ashraf Ghani’s speech Wednesday vowing to “revenge the blood of our brothers & sisters from the Taliban, Daesh and other groups” went far enough to avenge the deaths.
The victims were Hazara, a Shia, Persian ethnic minority who were murdered in droves by the Taliban in the 1990s, and the murders provoked fear of more sectarian violence.
http://www.vocativ.com/news/249239/kabul-protests-hazara-killed/
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