NEPAL: Thousands of demonstrators march against municipal polls and the Nepalese king

Record ID: 687443

  • Title: NEPAL: Thousands of demonstrators march against municipal polls and the Nepalese king
  • Date: 27th January 2006
  • Summary: CLOSE UP OF POLICE OFFICER IN RIOT GEAR; POLICE WATCHING PROTESTERS
  • Embargoed: 11th February 2006 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Nepal
  • Country: Nepal
  • Topics: Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVAF32XREE5WUK7W693G9T47WLLH
  • Story Text: Thousands of pro-democracy activists chanting anti-king slogans held demonstrations in cities and towns across Nepal on Thursday (January 26) to mark a nationwide strike against municipal elections and King Gyanendra. Across the restive Himalayan kingdom, riot police patrolled deserted streets amid the dawn-to-dusk closure called by the country's main political parties, which organise fierce, often violent, street protests to press the monarch to restore multi-party democracy. Thursday's strike coincided with the day when contestants for February 8 elections for 58 municipal councils were expected to file nomination papers. In Kathmandu thousands of protesters chanted anti-king slogans in a show of strength against the planned elections. Rajender Khadka, a protester in Kathmandu said the march was aimed at letting the authorities know public's displeasure with the state of the country and its politics. "This is the power of the people who have come out to voice their disapproval of the forthcoming elections. Earlier the people did not show their power but now they are showing it," Rajender Khadka said. Police chased some of the trouble makers after they began pelting stones at the end of their march. In west Nepal, in the tourist resort town of Pokhara, 200 km west of capital Kathmandu, police opened fire at a demonstration, wounding one person. Residents in Nepalgunj, Pokhara and the business centre of Biratnagar, said businesses, schools and colleges were shut and streets deserted. Hundreds of activists have been detained and dozens injured over the past several days as police used batons and fired teargas shells to break up anti-king rallies. The government has ordered businesses and transport operators to ignore the strike, saying it would pay compensation if they are attacked. But residents were not convinced and nearly all vehicles, public and private, remained off roads. In the past, activists have stoned cars or smashed shops which remained open. Parties are boycotting the civic elections, which they say are aimed at legitimising the regime of the king, who is under growing pressure to delay the vote and open dialogue with them and Maoist rebels. But the royalist government has vowed to hold the elections, saying it has "broken the spine" of the Maoists who also oppose the vote.
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