Taliban fighters opened fire in the air in Kabul to disperse a women’s demonstration demanding the right to work and education, almost a year after a hardline movement came to power in Afghanistan.

About forty women marched chanting “bread, work and freedom” in front of the Ministry of Education before militants dispersed them with shots in the air about five minutes after the demonstration began.

Notably, the Taliban ordered the closure of high schools for girls in Afghanistan hours after they reopened. He also ordered all television news anchors in the country to wear the niqab when they appeared and presented programs on screens.

In turn, High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet reiterated her condemnation of the Taliban regime’s “systematic oppression” of Afghan women and girls, urging the movement to draw inspiration from some Islamic countries to improve women’s rights. She denounced the sharp decline in women’s rights in Afghanistan in recent months during an urgent debate at the Human Rights Council in Geneva on the status of women and girls in the country.