Romeo and Juliet

Young Afghan Lovers Cause Riot

Cross-ethnicity couple now hiding in jail.

Two teenagers from different ethnicities who met at an ice-cream shop in Herat, Afghanistan, now live on opposite ends of a cell block in a juvenile-detention facility—and for now, that’s a good thing. After months of stolen “hellos” and secret talks on the phone, they decided to make their relationship public, and were immediately greeted with a four-hour riot that killed one man and left a police station charred. Their parents are so furious the teens met without family approval that they promise to kill them when they’re released. Police pulled the teens from the riot and the government has promised them protection, but so far that entails only imprisonment. “I feel so bad. I just pray that God gives this girl back to me,” said the boy. “I’m ready to lose my life. I just want her safe release.”