Clashes between pro-democracy protesters and Police in Kathmandu

CLASHES CONTINUE IN KATHMANDU

Clashes between pro-democracy demonstrators and the King’s police continue in Nepal’s capital Kathmandu today. Student leaders spearheading protests said demonstrators staged rallies throughout the city to evade a ban on public gatherings imposed last week by the royalist government after protesters threatened to storm the king's palace. Baton-wielding police stopped one march of 200 people carrying flaming torches, left-wing symbols that are banned in Nepal. No one was reported injured, but witnesses said protesters damaged two police vans by hitting them with sticks. Demonstrations over the past two weeks have been the most serious in Nepal since 1990 when protests forced the kingdom to allow a constitutional monarchy. It is estimated that more than 2,000 people remain in custody as a result of arrests made during last week’s demonstrations alone.

On Sunday, student leaders said around 12,000 people protested in the streets of the city of 1.5 million. Two hundred of those protesters were arrested. Among those arrested were senior opposition political leaders. Central level leaders of the Nepali Congress, Chakra Prasad Bastola and Formulla Mansur Ansari, were arrested from Bagbazar this afternoon. General Secretary of Sadhbawana (Aanandi Devi), Hridayesh Tripathi, and central level leader of Nepal Workers’ and Peasants’ Party, Dilli Kafle, were also arrested from the same spot. Police also rounded up 12 activists, some in wheelchairs, of the Nepal Disabled Association who were holding placards denouncing the king

Already crippled by an eight-year Maoist rebellion to topple the constitutional monarchy, Nepal has been racked by political crisis since King Gyanendra sacked the elected prime minister in 2002 and put the elections on hold. Although technically a constitutional monarch, he has now effectively assumed all power. On Saturday the king renewed an ordinance which gives police and troops the right to detain people and search homes on suspicion of “terrorist” activities. The king was to huddle today with royalist Prime Minister Surya Bahadur Thapa, who held an emergency cabinet meeting yesterday to discuss the protests that have brought tens of thousands to the streets outside the palace, a minister said.

In the latest sign of support for the demonstrations, the two unions representing bus and truck workers in the Himalayan kingdom announced they would side with the opposition against the king. “We have been caught between the two sides. Police force us to load activists for detention and enraged protesters smash up our vehicles,” said union leader Yogesh Karmacharya. “So we have decided to choose sides and support the movement for the restoration of the people’s democratic rights,” he said. The two unions represent more than 250,000 workers and could potentially devastate the landlocked country’s fragile economy by refusing to run buses for tourists or to haul imports from India. A number of other prominent unions, including those representing teachers and doctors, have also voiced support for the anti-royal movement. Sources: Times of India, AFP, WebIndia, Himalayan Times, Bahrain Tribune

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