WOMEN marched through Kabul on Saturday in protest against their oppression at the hands of the Taliban as the anniversary of the US-led retreat from Afghanistan drew to a close.

The protest lasted for less than 10 minutes, according to photographer Kiana Hayeri who was at the scene, before gunmen broke it up by firing shots into the air and dispersing the women.

Taliban will harbor terrorism but fight against women who peacefully protest for “Work, Freedom and Bread”

One year after the takeover in a nutshell: pic.twitter.com/hD4EtjyyTl

— Aisha Khurram (@AishaKHM) August 13, 2022

“A bunch of foreign [...] and local journalists have been arrested,” Ms Hayeri said in a BBC interview after the protest on Saturday. “A few people have been beaten up.”

The protesters, Ms Hayeri said, demanded “bread, freedom and education, and they were calling August 15 a very dark day.”

Since the Taliban retook control of the country following the US’s chaotic retreat last year, girls have been barred from secondary schools in most of the country and women restricted in what jobs they can have.