Taliban's response to protests has been increasingly violent, UN high commissioners said

The U.N. rights office on Friday said that the Taliban response to peaceful marches in Afghanistan has been increasingly violent, with authorities using live ammunition, batons and whips and causing the deaths of at least four protesters. Protests and demonstrations, often led by women, pose a challenge to the new Islamist Taliban government as it seeks to consolidate control after seizing the capital Kabul nearly a month ago "We have seen a reaction from the Taliban which has unfortunately been severe," Ravina Shamdasani, U.N. rights spokesperson, told a briefing in Geneva, saying the United Nations had documented four protester deaths from gunfire.