Thousands pack Nepali streets after violence
AFP, Kathmandu
Thousands of anti-monarchy protesters burned tyres and threw stones at cars yesterday as they shut down Kathmandu in a strike to denounce clashes outside the king's palace that left 205 people injured. Maoist rebels fighting to topple the monarchy offered moral support to the demonstrators, who marched Saturday from street corners across the capital chanting slogans demanding King Gyanendra restore democracy. A coalition of nine Nepalese human rights groups said 201 demonstrators and four policemen were injured Friday as baton-wielding police dispersed protesters who tried to break down a barbed-wire barricade guarding the Narayanhiti Palace. Riot police were deployed in force Saturday in Kathmandu's central government area, hoping to avoid another showdown in front of the palace. Police said several vehicles that violated the strike were damaged including a passenger bus of the private domestic carrier Buddha Air. Nhuchhe Maharajan, an activist with the five-party alliance organising the demonstrations, defended the stone-throwing, saying the strike was meant to "deplore the excessive police acts against peaceful protests." The demonstrations outside the palace, which drew tens of thousands of people for two days straight, were among the largest by the five-party alliance whose months of rallies have failed to make an impact on the king. The king, who is officially a constitutional monarch, in 2002 branded the elected government as "incompetent" and selected his own cabinet.
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