Thousands march in Kabul on reroute of power line

Thousands of demonstrators marched on Monday to protest against the planned route of a multimillion-dollar power transmission line.

The protesters demanded changes to the route of transmission line bringing electricity from Turkmenistan.

The government blocked the Kabul streets overnight to redirect the protesters from staging protests in front of the Presidential Palace and diplomatic areas in Kabul.

Some protesters threw stones and tried to climb over shipping containers, but was not succeeded after police intervention.

The demonstrators who are mainly Hazara, a minatory in Afghanistan, demanding that the planned route for the 500kV transmission line be changed to pass through Bamyan, and Maidan Wardak, the two provinces with large Hazara populations.

The government says it would cost millions of dolor and delay the project by years.

The demonstrator organizers were calling that they will no longer accept the discrimination toward them.

At the end of the demonstration they asked the government to denounce the planned decision and court those who were involved in the reroute of the project through Salang Pass.

Protesters warned that they would not accept any alternative and will stage bigger civic protests if the government neglect their demands.

TUTAP project is backed by the Asian Development Bank to link Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan with Afghanistan and Pakistan.