Protesters defy daytime curfew
2006-04-23 09:46
Katmandu - Small groups of protesters defied a daytime curfew in the Nepalese capital on Sunday, a day after tens of thousands of anti-monarchy demonstrators filled the streets of the capital, clashing with security forces who fought back with tear gas, rubber bullets and live ammunition.
The protesters assembled on Sunday on the outskirts of Katmandu were met by massed army troops who used barbed wire to cordon off some inner alleys.
The city centre was guarded by soldiers patrolling in armoured personnel carriers, who seemed to be concentrating on areas where crowds had defied a curfew the previous day.
Dozens of people were badly hurt in Saturday's clashes as protesters, opposition leaders and Maoist insurgents loudly and sometimes violently rejected King Gyanendra's offer to return to a multiparty democracy.
Opposition alliance leaders say the king's offer fell short of a key opposition demand - the return of Parliament and election of a special assembly to write a constitution.
"Down with Gyanendra! Gyanendra out, out!" many chanted as they moved toward the sprawling palace compound on Saturday.
A government announcement said Sunday's curfew would run for 11 hours in the capital and its main suburbs of Lalitpur and Bhaktapur.
Nepal's crisis has escalated since a general strike called by the parties and the Maoists began April 6.
Protesters have filled the streets daily, leaving the country paralysed and the situation dangerously volatile. Security forces firing at protesters have killed at least 14 people and wounded many more.
It appeared unlikely the protesters will support any deal with Gyanendra, whose nation was once better known for its trekking routes, beautiful scenery and Mount Everest.
The chaos has worried the international community, who fear the political crisis could spark renewed humanitarian crises in Nepal, already one of the world's poorest countries.
Many also worry that a political vacuum could give the Maoist rebels - who have seized control of much of the countryside in a bloody, 10-year insurgency - a route to power.
In Thapathali neighbourhood Saturday, soldiers and police fired rubber bullets and live ammunition as protesters tried to head toward the palace, wounding at least four people, doctors said.
Soldiers in armoured vehicles and lines of riot police blocked key intersections leading to the palace, occasionally turning back crowds with tear gas and baton charges. An army helicopter hovered overhead.
One wave of protesters came within a few hundred meters of the compound before being forced back by tear gas.
Umesh Dhakal of the Nepalese Red Cross Society said 243 people had been injured in the clashes, with 39 requiring hospitalisation. Many were hurt in stampedes as they tried to flee the fighting.
- AP