Four students killed in clashes

AT LEAST four Afghan students died when hundreds, enraged over a lack of food and electricity in their dormitory, clashed with police in violent demonstrations in the capital Kabul.

Dozens were injured, said witnesses and officials. Firefighters pushed back students with water cannons yesterday, and police blasted away with barrage after barrage of automatic fire.

Authorities said they were firing over students’ heads. Students threw rocks, bricks, and sticks back at the security forces.

“With my own eyes I saw the bodies of four students shot when they tried to march to the presidential palace,” said Sher Mohammed, an army officer who witnessed the initial protests on Monday night.

“Death to the killers of our colleagues. We want justice,” protesters shouted outside the dilapidated dormitories where more than 3,000 students from villages throughout Afghanistan live in squalor.

“All we’re trying to do is contain them to the university right now, we can’t stop it,” said intelligence chief Abdul Karim.

It was the first time since the fall of the Taliban a university protest turned violent.

“This is barbaric,” said Umaid, a social sciences student who leapt over a fence to escape the shooting. “Today the students are protesting the death of our fellow students.”

Officer Mohammed said students had queued for three hours for food on Monday night following the end of the day-long fast being observed throughout Islam’s holy month of Ramadan, which began last week.

The food ran out before more than 400 students could be fed. For much of the time they had been standing in the dark because the power had gone, he said.

“We have no water. We have no bread. We have no electricity. Everything is expensive,” said Nangalai, a medical student.

The university, once the country’s flagship of higher education, was not maintained during the rule of the Taliban who frowned on most education, other than religious training.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai has pleaded for more international assistance, saying his poor nation has not received what it has been promised by the international community following the collapse of the Taliban.