- Title: NEPAL: Nepal capital shut down over alleged Maoist killings
- Date: 20th November 2008
- Summary: (BN09) KATHMANDU, NEPAL (NOVEMBER 20, 2008) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF TYRES BURNING ON KALANKI STREET PEOPLE GATHERING AROUND BURNING TYRES (SOUNDBITE) (Nepali) STUDENT, LAXMAN BHATTA, SAYING: "This protest is against the YCL (Young Communist League) cadres who killed two of our student friends, while they were eating fish at a restaurant - they were kidnapped and finally mur
- Embargoed: 5th December 2008 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Nepal
- Country: Nepal
- Topics: Domestic Politics
- Reuters ID: LVACBXDF6YG2QD7ZII92GO0M71LU
- Story Text: Kathmandu shuts down as protesters take to the streets in a strike over alleged killing of two students by Maoists.
Shops were shuttered, cars stayed off the streets, schools were closed and demonstrators burnt tyres in Nepal's capital on Thursday (November 20) in a protest against the murder of two men blamed on Nepal's ruling Maoists.
The Maoists, who fought a civil war from 1996 to 2006, are now heading a coalition government after emerging as the largest party in an election in April.
Media reports this week said police had dug up the decomposing bodies of two young men who were allegedly taken by members of the Maoist Young Communist League (YCL) last month from a district adjoining Kathmandu.
The Maoist Young Communist League has been accused of violence and intimidation in the past but denied involvement in this incident and said the charges were baseless.
But protesters like student Laxman Bhatta said they were convinced the YCL were to blame.
"This protest is against the YCL (Young Communist League) cadres who killed two of our student friends, while they were eating fish at a restaurant - they were kidnapped and finally murdered," he said.
Victims' families and friends called for the closure of transport, businesses, schools and colleges to protest against the killings and demand compensation.
Protesters marched through the streets chanting anti-Maoist slogans as hundreds of riot police looked on. Vehicles stayed off the street or were pelted with stones.
Banks and government offices were open but the attendance was thin as the employees had to walk to work.
During their decade-long conflict, the Maoists regularly sponsored general strikes crippling transport and businesses in the landlocked mountainous nation. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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