KABUL -- The United Nations criticized Thursday the "excessive use of force" by police in evicting 30 families and bulldozing their homes in the Afghan capital.

Some 30 families were evicted from their homes in Shir Pur village near the up-market Wazir Akbar Khan district of central Kabul, UN spokesman Manoel de Almeida e Silva told reporters.

"According to the residents and witnesses the chief of police of Kabul (Basir Salangi) himself led the operation," De Almeida e Silva said.

"Considering the significant deployment of police personnel and equipment it is our view that the police acted with excessive use of force.

"Such action also created a humanitarian emergency as the houses of these 30 families were bulldozed and many of their belongings destroyed," he said.

UN and Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission staff were at the village Wednesday. Both organizations appealed to authorities to suspend the clearance operation until a short-term alternative could be offered to the affected families, who said they had lived in their homes for 30 years.

"I'm very shocked to see these developments which is why we came here as soon as we found out," said Miloon Kothari, visiting special independent rapporteur on adequate housing appointed by the United Nations Commission on Human Rights (UNHCR). "It's quite clear we can debate the legal issues, we can debate about what the city of Kabul should look like, but the form in which the demolitions and evictions have taken place are gross violations of the human rights of the people here," he told reporters at the site of the evictions. "The very people who are responsible for maintaining law and order, the very people who are responsible for ensuring that these people have their rights, appear to be the violators of that right and that is a very disturbing development."

Evicted locals told AFP they were beaten by police and given no advance notice and were not offered anywhere else to go.

Others were still in their houses when the bulldozer moved in.

The land is owned by the Ministry of Defense and most of the people evicted said they were former ministry employees.

Kothari said he would write to President Hamid Karzai to call for a moratorium on evictions until a development plan is devised for the city, which is under pressure from hundreds of thousands of returning refugees.

Humanitarian agencies have supplied emergency aid such as tents and blankets to the evicted families.

Kothari is on a two-week visit to review issues related to housing and land rights in Afghanistan, including those affecting migrants, refugees and minorities.