Hundreds March In Kandahar To Protest Against Taliban Evictions

Kandahar, Afghanistan: many protesters from a neighbourhood populated by former Afghan army servicemen marched in Kandahar Tuesday against plans by the Taliban to evict them from their homes.
Residents of Zara Ferqa, a suburb made from government housing and ramshackle huts, said that they had been ordered to go away by the Taliban, but had nowhere else to travel .

One resident said they were told to vacate their homes and provides them to Taliban fighters.

Locals say quite 10,000 people sleep in the neighbourhood — many of them widows or wives of servicemen killed or wounded in action against the Taliban within the past 20 years.

The crowd — mainly made from men and youths, along side some women, many burqa-clad — took to the streets despite the Taliban having banned unauthorised protests after taking power on Assumption .

Some reporters covering Tuesday’s march said they were harassed and beaten by Taliban guards along the route.

Kandahar is Afghanistan’s second-biggest city, also because the birthplace of the Taliban movement and its spiritual heartland.

In response to the protest, Kandahar’s governor has temporarily stayed any eviction until the matter are often discussed with community elders.

A statement noted that not all the housing was official government quarters, and a few residences had been built by individuals.