Nepal protesters clash with police, 100 held

KATHMANDU (Reuters) – More than a dozen demonstrators were
hurt in violent clashes with police on Monday, the third day of
protests against King Gyanendra’s seizure of power seven months
ago, witnesses and party officials said.

About 100 protesters were hauled into waiting police vans
as thousands of activists from seven main political parties
tried to enter the heart of Kathmandu where protests have been
banned since Gyanendra’s February 1 power grab.

Witnesses said police burst tear gas shells and used canes
to break up the rally as activists emerged from a maze of
alleys shouting “Long live democracy” and other slogans.

“This is a naked suppression of the people’s right to
peacefully protest,” Arjun Narsingh K.C., a senior member of
the Nepali Congress, the biggest in the seven-party alliance,
told Reuters.

Witnesses said more than a dozen protesters had been hurt
in the baton charge and at least two had been rushed to
hospital.

The clashes followed Sunday’s release of 160 pro-democracy
activists, including former prime minister Girija Prasad
Koirala, who were detained at the weekend.

The political parties that controlled more than 190 seats
in the 205-member parliament dissolved in 2002 have been
protesting since February when Gyanendra, officially a
constitutional monarch, suspended civil liberties.

The king said his move was prompted by the failure of
squabbling political parties to quell an increasingly deadly
Maoist insurgency in which more than 12,500 people have died.

The Maoists want to overthrow the monarchy and set up a
communist republic in the impoverished Himalayan kingdom.

The clashes came as influential neighbor India said Nepal’s
problems could only be addressed through a process of dialogue
and reconciliation in an atmosphere free from violence and
terror.

New Delhi, in a statement circulated by the Indian Embassy
in Kathmandu, said it hoped the three-month-long Maoist
ceasefire announced at the weekend would “contribute toward
creating an environment in which a peace process can begin.”

Nepal’s royalist government has yet to comment but the
seven political parties who said in July they would hold talks
with the rebels to discuss joint protests against Gyanendra’s
power grab have welcomed it.