150 arrested as students and police clash in Nepal
Police in Nepal fought frenzied street battles today with activists during their four-day general strike against the king’s rule, and 150 people were reported arrested in a crackdown that has sparked international condemnation.
In the biggest clash on the second day of the strike, hundreds of students burned and ransacked a post office in the Patan neighbourhood of the capital, Kathmandu, and hurled stones at police, who tried to force them back with tear gas.
Clashes also were reported in other neighbourhoods where protests were held by the alliance of seven political parties that called the strike to oppose King Gyanendra’s direct control over the government since early last year.
Protest leaders said at least 150 activists from three parties – the Nepali Congress, the Communist Party of Nepal, and the Nepali Congress-Democratic – had been arrested. Police had no immediate comment.
Soldiers, meanwhile, scoured south-western Nepal for communist rebels who attacked government security bases on Wednesday night, killing 13 people and taking 28 hostages.
Streets were largely empty in Kathmandu. The strike, running until Sunday, shut down public transport in the city, and hundreds of people walked to work, although many stayed home.
Shops and schools were shut, with only ambulances and security vehicles on the roads.
Days before the planned strike, Gyanendra’s government banned all forms of public protest in Kathmandu.
The home ministry said 177 people were arrested for breaking the protest ban yesterday, the first day of the strike. Protest organisers, however, said 300 people had been arrested and were being held without charge or had been sent to prison for three months under a tough public safety law.
Today, students emerged in waves from alleyways in the Patan neighbourhood, shouting slogans and throwing bricks and stones. They burned a post office and motorcycle and forced police to retreat.
Gyanendra says he was forced to seize power in February last year because of the growing communist insurgency, which has killed 13,000 people since 1996. He has been under international pressure to restore democracy.
In Washington, the US State Department expressed concern about the curbs on civil liberties and human rights, saying they had led to serious unrest, and called for the release of “activists who have been held for voicing their opposition to autocratic rule.”
“The arrests and harassment of pro-democracy activists violate their fundamental civil rights,” said State Department spokesman Sean McCormack.
The European Union condemned the ban on protests, saying that “the government’s actions further aggravate the atmosphere of confrontation in the country and are not conducive to constructive national dialogue for peace”.
