Demanding justice: Massive protest in Kabul over decapitation of Shiite Hazaras

Thousands of protesters have marched coffins containing the decapitated bodies of seven Shiite Hazaras through the Afghan capital, demanding justice for a minority whose persecution by the Taliban they say is ignored by the government.

Demonstrators gathered Wednesday in west Kabul and walked through the rain bearing the coffins draped in green to the gates of the presidential palace, where organisers said they were planning to stage a sit-in until their demands were met by the government.

Their numbers dwindled to dozens after warning shots were fired in the air in the afternoon, though many people remained in the streets further from the palace.

The protest was unusual for Afghanistan in its scale and organisation, and was mostly peaceful.

Demonstrators carried pictures of the victims, including two women and one child a girl, whose coffin was carried by grieving women.

The three million-strong Afghan Hazara community has been persecuted for decades, with thousands killed in the late 1990s by Al-Qaeda and the mainly Pashtun Sunni Taliban.