- Title: NEPAL: Nepal shuts down for strike against monarchy.
- Date: 6th April 2006
- Summary: PROTESTOR
- Embargoed: 21st April 2006 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Nepal
- Country: Nepal
- Topics: Domestic Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA6LQZUSLOT44J6Z554MAQBKS43
- Story Text: A nationwide strike against Nepal's monarchy has shut down the troubled nation on Thursday (April 6).
Nepal's seven main political parties have called for the four-day general strike and have vowed to defy a government ban on protests to launch what they expect to be a decisive campaign for democracy.
Roads across the country of 26 million people were deserted as the strike began. Businesses and schools were shut despite the government urging people not to support the strike call.
In the capital Kathmandu, the centre of the campaign, hundreds of riot police and soldiers patrolled deserted streets and activists burned tyres on roads to enforce the closure.
Dozens of protestors also marched through the streets and shouted anti-government slogans.
"We have come forward in the movement realizing the need of a social transformation thinking that if there be the end of autocracy, there may prevail peace in the country," said Mohan Chandra Adhkary, a leftist leader.
"This is an indicator of the end of the King and his followers to discard the memorandum of understanding (made by the seven party alliance and Maoists)," said protestor Krishna Sharma.
Police said at least four cars were smashed by protestors for defying the strike.
The king's government detained activists and politicians on the eve of the strike in a bid to scuttle it and imposed a night curfew in the capital region saying the Maoists could infiltrate the protests and spark violence.
Although pro-democracy protests have become a regular feature in the country since the king's coup, this week's rallies are expected to be the biggest so far.
Witnesses and authorities said at least 10 people were killed in Nepal when Maoist guerrillas attacked a district town hours before a strike.
Although the guerrillas, who are fighting to establish a communist state, are supporting the political groups as part of a pact against the king, they are not participating in the protests and the rallies are expected to be largely peaceful.
The United States condemned the detention of politicians and called for their release, saying talks between them and the king were the only way out of the political crisis.
Nepal, which has been struggling to contain the Maoist revolt, sunk into deeper turmoil after King Gyanendra sacked the government and took power in February 2005, saying politicians had failed to quell the insurgency and hold national elections.
The revolt has killed more than 13,000 people so far and wrecked the economy of one of the 10 poorest countries in the world, which lives off aid and tourism.
The royal move triggered international outrage, sparked anti-monarchy rallies and led to a loose alliance between the Maoists and political groups against the king. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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