Afghanistan: Anti-occupation protesters shot by police

Below is a May 10 article from the Earth Times. It is reprinted from http://rawa.org
The protesters brought the corpses of three “civilians” on the highway connecting Kabul to the Pakistani border, while chanting slogans against the Afghan government and foreign forces in the country on May 8.
Hundreds of protesters blocked the highway in Shinwar district of eastern Nangarhar province protesting against the alleged killing of civilians by US-led coalition forces. One of the corpses was of a man who was allegedly killed in a US operation, during a funeral ceremony.
At least two people were killed and six others wounded when police opened fire on the protesters, witnesses said Saturday. Police opened fire after the protesters turned violent and threw stones, witnesses said.
According to one witness, at least one policeman was injured by the stone throwers. “Police opened fire on the protesters, killing two of them and wounding another six men”, he said, adding that the police withdrew from the area and provincial authorities arrived at the scene to talk to protesters.
Provincial authorities refused to comment on the demonstrations or the killings.
US-led coalition forces meanwhile said in a statement that their forces killed “several militants” and detained nine others on the same day in Shinwar district.
It claimed that the coalition forces were searching the compounds when they came under fire by militants. The coalition forces also discovered several AK-47 assault rifles, a bolt action rifle, ammunition and grenades on the compounds, the statement added.

Also published in Green Left Weekly issue #751 21 May 2008.