Overview
- The UN mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) says security forces used live ammunition during a protest in Herat, killing at least one boy and wounding others, with reports of a second fatality and many people beaten still under verification.
- Local police denied firing weapons and said protesters disrupted public order, while eyewitness videos circulating online show hundreds of participants and audible gunfire.
- The demonstration followed weekend arrests of roughly 30 women by the morality police for alleged dress-code violations and came after the regional morality ministry announced stricter rules on women’s appearance.
- Verification of events is constrained by tight media controls in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan, so international accounts rely on UNAMA statements, eyewitness footage and agency reporting.
- The clash points to a wider pattern since the Taliban takeover and a 2024 Tugendgesetz that has expanded morality-police powers, raising acute rights and safety concerns for women and marginalized communities such as the Hazara.