Latest Kathmandu Stories
KATHMANDU (Reuters) - Nepali troops opened fire on anti-monarchy protesters in an eastern town on Monday and killed one man, witnesses said, as international pressure increased on King Gyanendra to restore multi-party democracy. If confirmed, it would be the fifth person to be killed in 12 days of violent pro-democracy demonstrations that have brought the impoverished Himalayan nation to a standstill. Hundreds have been wounded. Witnesses said troops had opened fire on protesters in...
By Gopal Sharma KATHMANDU (Reuters) - Nepali police burst tear gas shells and charged at youths with canes on Monday to break up a protest in the tourist heartland of Kathmandu, which has been largely immune to the anti-monarchy campaign sweeping the nation. It was the second day of unrest in the Thamel district, a maze of alleys full of backpacker hotels, bars, restaurants, shops and tour agencies. Witnesses said police burst tear gas and then charged at the protesters, but no one...
KATHMANDU (Reuters) - Nepal's anti-monarchy protests spread to the usually off-limits tourist district in Kathmandu on Sunday, with hundreds of people chanting slogans against King Gyanendra and burning tyres on the street. Police arrested four people during the protest in the Thamel district, a maze of alleys full of backpacker hotels, bars, curio shops and trekking and travel agencies which is a magnet for most tourists entering the country. Protests were held elsewhere in the city...
KATHMANDU (Reuters) - Thousands of people staged a pro-democracy protest in Kathmandu on Saturday, the largest turnout in Nepal's capital since the latest campaign against King Gyanendra was launched. About 8,000 people gathered in the Kalanki suburb on the western outskirts of the city, chanting slogans as they sat cross-legged on the road. "Down with autocracy, restore democracy," they shouted, waving red flags of protest as riot police watched. Onlookers in nearby shops and houses...
By Gopal Sharma KATHMANDU (Reuters) - Fresh pro-democracy protests broke out in Nepal on Friday despite King Gyanendra's pledge to hold elections in the Himalayan kingdom, as activists said he offered nothing new or substantive. Groups of protesters took to the streets of the capital Kathmandu hours after the king's midnight message, chanting "Gyanendra, thief, quit the country" and "Down with autocracy, end police repression." Riot police arrested about 20 demonstrators, but there was...
By Y.P. Rajesh KATHMANDU (Reuters) - Nepal's embattled king returned to the capital after a nearly two-month vacation and there are hopes he might make the first move to defuse a violent campaign against him, officials said on Thursday. King Gyanendra returned to Kathmandu late on Wednesday from the western tourist resort town of Pokhara, a week after the Himalayan country came to a standstill after his opponents launched mass protests seeking restoration of democracy. The king is due...
By Gopal Sharma and Y.P. Rajesh KATHMANDU (Reuters) - Nepali troops shot dead an activist on Wednesday as violent pro-democracy protests flared for the seventh day across the troubled Himalayan nation. The latest death is the fourth during a mass campaign launched by political parties last Thursday to force the monarch to end his absolute rule. The royalist government relaxed a daytime curfew in the capital city Kathmandu, although protests continue to be banned and there was no...
By Gopal Sharma and Y.P. Rajesh KATHMANDU (Reuters) - Nepal's government said on Wednesday it was relaxing a daytime curfew in the capital for the first time in five days as violent pro-democracy protests flare across the country. The restrictions had been imposed for several hours a day since Saturday in a bid to quell protests called by Nepal's seven main political parties against King Gyanendra's power grab 14 months ago. But state television said the curfew would not be imposed on...
By Y.P. Rajesh and Gopal Sharma KATHMANDU (Reuters) - Nepali troops opened fire on protesters on Tuesday, wounding several, after they burned tires, chanted slogans and clashed with police in defiance of a curfew in the sixth day of mass protests against the king. The violence came as international pressure increased on King Gyanendra to end his crackdown on the protests, in which three people have been killed and hundreds wounded. The street campaign is the most intense since the...
By Y.P. Rajesh and Gopal Sharma KATHMANDU (Reuters) - Nepali troops opened fire on protesters on Tuesday, wounding several, after they burned tires, chanted slogans and clashed with police in defiance of a curfew in the sixth day of mass protests against the king. The violence came as international pressure increased on King Gyanendra to end his crackdown on the protests, in which three people have been killed and hundreds wounded. The street campaign is the most intense since the...
