[PRESSTV] Seven people have bit the dust when protesters, angry over alleged unfair distribution of food aid, clashed with police in Afghanistan’s western province of Ghor, a report says.
At least 14 other people were also injured in the festivities on Saturday, said Gulzaman Nayeb, a politician representing Ghor, adding that the protesting crowd turned angry during bread distribution in the Feroz Koh city, the bustling provincial capital.
He said that growing unhappiness at the distribution, which was allegedly favoring people with political connections, sparked the protest amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to Mohammad Arif Aber, a front man for the provincial governor of Ghor, police forces opened fire after some individuals from the around 300 protesters began throwing stones, started firing guns and trying to storm the governor's house. He denied that the aid was being unfairly distributed.
The chairman of the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC), Shaharzad Akbar, said on Twitter that the group was looking into the "worrying reports of police firing on protesters."
The government in Kabul has recently started distributing bread to poor families through bakeries on a daily basis throughout the war-ravaged country as the restriction imposed by the pandemic have led to many job losses and rising food prices.
|
