Protesters clash with police

2006-01-21 21:14

Kathmandu - Nepalese police have arrested hundreds of protesters, firing tear gas into the crowds, in an ongoing demonstration against King Gyanendra in Durbar Square, Kathmandu.

A Kathmandu Valley police officer said 236 people were arrested for "defying government ban orders by taking part in demonstrations".

Nepalese journalists are reporting the arrest of 300 demonstrators. The activists chanted pro-democracy slogans as they were taken away.

The Nepalese government banned Friday's street protests, citing the threat of Maoist rebel violence. Cell-phone telephone services have been cut, and a daytime curfew imposed.

Activists from an alliance of seven political parties, sacked by the Nepali king in February last year, called the rally to protest municipal elections, due to be held on February 8 as part of the king's roadmap to restore democracy.

The parties continued their protest campaign on Saturday, denouncing the elections as a "sham".

They have also called for a one-day national strike on Thursday.

'Government resposible for violence'

Rajendra Prasad Pandey, a protest organiser for the Nepal Communist Party said:"The Joint Alliance Movement Taskforce Committee of seven parties has decided to organise a general strike on January 26 in protest against the so-called municipal polls and government restrictions on civil liberties."

Shobhakar Parajuli, secretary of the Nepali Congress blamed the Nepalese government for the violence: "The alliance is for peaceful demonstrations, but it is the autocratic government who is trying to make peaceful demonstrations violent."

A Congress party official said at least 163 of its members had been arrested in Saturday's protests and remained in custody.

- AFP