A group of Afghan women rallied in Kabul on Tuesday to demand the right to education following the expulsion of female students from the Kabul University dormitory and accused the Taliban of threatening protesters with violent attacks.

Local media reported that the few dozen women carried signs reading ‘Education is our red line’, chanting that the world has forgotten them under the Taliban.

Taliban operatives dispersed the peaceful protesters.

“Once again, the Taliban prevented us from demonstrating by insulting and threatening us,” a protester said. “Unfortunately, the Taliban threatened us with explosion and suicide bombing.”

In September, more than 50 students, mainly young women, were killed in an attack in Kabul that sparked demonstrations by Afghans around the world.

The Taliban broke up or suppressed protests in several provinces by force.

In Kabul, dozens of female Hazara students planning to join a protest claimed to be poisoned in the Kabul University dormitory.

A few days later, the dormitory authorities expelled a number of the students for protesting their alleged poisoning, a report said.

However, the Taliban’s higher education ministry claimed that the poisoning was due to overeating and that the expulsion of the girls was based on the university’s rules to maintain order and discipline. 

(dpa/NAN)