Nepalis threaten more protests amid blockade
500 anti-monarchy protesters detained
AFP, Kathmandu
Nepalese activists yesterday threatened further demonstrations a day after more than 500 anti-monarchy protestors were rounded up across the country, as security forces braced for a fresh transport blockade called by Maoist rebels. The All Nepal National Free Students' Union "is going to hold anti-king protests in all the colleges across the country on March 27," a group official, Bal Gopal Upadhyay, told AFP. "The protest programmes will include demonstrations, slogans and corner meetings," Upadhyay said. "Our main demand, however is a republic form of government in the country." Witnesses said dozens of people were detained Monday in the capital alone as the main political parties began a programme of demonstrations against King Gyanendra's seizure of power last month. Police said only 18 people were arrested, of whom three would be released later Tuesday while 15 would be held for three months under the Public Security Act. Among those detained are leaders, lawmakers and activists of the five political parties who organised the protest, a police official said Tuesday. "They will be served notices regarding their detention," he said. Those arrested were members of an alliance of five political parties that had pledged to risk arrest to protest the king's sacking of his government and assumption of total power on February 1. Most of the 500 or so political activists rounded up on Monday during protests in the Janakpur zone of the southeastern district of Dhanusha have been released, an official said. "Excepting 45 top political leaders and activists, all ... 500 arrested on Monday were released later in the evening," an official from the Dhanusha chief district office told AFP by telephone.
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