Kites were flying over Liverpool in solidarity with the people of Afghanistan one year after the Taliban took power.
People gathered in Princes Park and Otterspool to fly kites as part of an international festival which saw similar events take place in London, Berlin and Copenhagen on Saturday, August 20. Afghan kite-flying was banned under the previous Taliban regime, so festival organisers Good Chance hope "people everywhere will remember and preserve Afghan culture through the simple, joyful act of kite flying".
The charity's website said: "Afghanistan is experiencing one of the most devastating humanitarian crises in the world, rights are being eroded by the Taliban every day, and the UK government’s asylum system is broken and failing to welcome people seeking sanctuary."
READ MORE: Hundreds of thousands spent to help house those fleeing war
Among those attending the event in Princes Park in Toxteth was Stuart Speeden, 70, who said: "We abandoned people in Afghanistan in dreadful circumstances, and the response from this country has been appalling, as it always is."
Dee Coombes, who was running around with a kite, loves the "glorious journey to freedom" depicted in The Kite Runner, a 2003 book, and later film, set against the backdrop of war and the rise of the Taliban in Afghanistan. The 74-year-old said: "I have the greatest sympathy, particularly for the women of Afghanistan, who've been allowed to grow and blossom, and then just had it all taken away.
"I think the British government has behaved appallingly towards the people that they employed. They're just left in danger. Their names are known, they left documents around that identified them to the Taliban. They're just behaving so appallingly, so I wanted to express sympathy by flying kites."
READ NEXT
