The Nepali riot police advocated tear gas, removed the water cannon and used Ratan Stick on Friday to break a protest rally, demanding the restoration of constitutional monarchy, and at least two people were killed in the violence.
Officials said they had to use force to prevent thousands of protesters from breaking into an area where demonstrations and protest rallies were banned, and they later imposed a curfew in the affected area to further grow violence.
The two killed were one of the protesters and a journalist who was covering the rally, a police spokesperson, Dinesh Kumar Acharya told the Reuters. Avenus TV said one of its journalists died when it was set in a house.
Another Nepal Police spokesman, Shekhar Khanal, said that the protesters set fire to a private house and a vehicle, stating that 17 people, including three police personnel, were injured. He said that three protesters are in police custody.
A separate anti-silver rally was also held in Nepali capital on Friday, but was passed peacefully.
In 2008, a specially elected assembly abolished the 239-year-old monarchy under an agreement, which ended a Maoist rebellion, killing 17,000 people in 1996–2006 and converted to Nepal from a Hindu state to a secular, federal republic from a Hindu state.
The 77 -year -old Gyanendra, the last king of the Himalayan nation, lives with his family as a common mango in a private house in Kathmandu.
‘Uncontrolled’ crowd
Friday’s trouble occurred when thousands of protesters, some people carrying the national flag of Nepal threw stones and tried to break a barricade to march towards Parliament House in Central Kathmandu.
A police officer, Kumar Nupen, said that the police opened fire in the air to remove the “uncontrolled” crowd.
A house statement said that the protesters have vandalized private property, hospital, a political party office, a media house and a shopping mall.
Ashok Kumar Bhandari, a spokesman of the Kathmandu district administration, said that the curfew declared in the affected area was “for a short time, till 10 pm (1615 GMT), but can be expanded on the basis of changing the situation”.
Nepal, one of the world’s poorest countries, has seen the formation of 14 governments in 16 years since the eradication of the monarchy. Political instability has stopped economic development, inspired by millions of youth to work abroad, mainly in the oil-rich Middle East, South Korea and Malaysia.
Public frustration on the failure of gradual governments to meet commitments to develop the economy is increasing, which depends on help and tourism. Nepal is a house of eight out of 14 highest peaks in the world, including Mount Everest.
(Except for the headline, the story has not been edited by NDTV employees and is published by a syndicated feed.)
