Nepal's protesters return to face gunfire with flags : Asia News

Maoists and anti-monarchist protesters were returning to the streets of Nepalese capital athmandu today for a second day of demonstrations in defiance of a shoot-on-sight curfew.

The royal government has pledged to face down the wave of unrest but international pressure was building for King Gyanendra to relinquish direct control and restore multi-party democracy to the Himalayan kingdom.

The United States, the United Nations and India have urged Nepalese security forces to exercise restraint. Yesterday, four activists were shot dead when police fired into the crowds. It is feared that their funerals could become flashpoints for further violence today.

Yesterday's curfew had been due to end at 9pm but was extended until 3am local time, giving families precious little time to dash outside to shops for food and milk before lockdown was imposed again from 9am (0415BST) today.

Residents scurried to the few stalls and grocers who opened after dawn. Piles of rubbish line the roadsides. Supplies of fuel are running short as a general strike enters its 16th day.

This morning a fresh wave of demonstrations began on the outskirts of the capital. In the western district of Kalanki, scene of the most violent protests yesterday, activists blocked roads with barricades of burning tyres. A large red and white message painted on the pavement read: "Martyrs’ square, long live the martyrs."

The seven opposition parties and their unlikely Maoist rebel allies are co-ordinating their demonstrations through text messages, mobile phones and the internet. Today's demonstrations began with large crowds assembling at a number of districts on the city's ring road at noon (0715BST). The protestors pledged to march through the lines of armed police and soldiers toward the royal palace.

"Our movement is successfully moving forward despite the state’s excessive use of force during demonstrations nationwide," the alliance said in a statement. "The strike will continue with more intensity in the capital and across the country until further notice."

Sabina Dhakal, a housewife, said that the deadlock and daily demonstrations were making life impossible. "The government should understand that curfew is not the answer to resolve the problem, it will just worsen the situation," she said.

At the Model Hospital, where many of the wounded protesters - including three of those killed - were taken, doctors wore black bands to protest at the shootings.

"It was terrible," said Dr Sarita Pandey. He said 66 wounded people, eight in critical condition, were brought in yesterday. He said the injured included a 10-year-old boy with a gunshot wound and a boy of 5 beaten by police.

The King seized absolute power in February 2005, claiming that the move was necessary to crush a Maoist insurgency that has cost 13,000 lives in the past ten years. But the guerrillas’ grip on rural Nepal has since escalated while the monarch has accelerated his curb on civil liberties.

Late last year the Maoists and political parties announced a coalition to unseat the King and calling for the restoration of multiparty democracy.

The king has been slow to respond to the growing crisis. This week five leading opposition politicians were released from custody in the first hint of a possible reconciliation, but observers say that a deal to return to the constitutional monarchy introduced by his father in 1991 may now be impossible.

Today, the pro-democracy Kathmandu Post said: "For the king time has run out," it said in an editorial. "No ruler can get away by killing innocent people. We believe the king has gone to the extent of no return. Even if he restores people’s sovereignty as per people’s wishes, he may not be able to protect the 237-year-old institution [of the monarchy]."

The state-owned Rising Nepal however urged negotiation and dialogue between the king and political parties in an editorial headlined "Shun Confrontation".

The demonstrations appear to encompass all sections of society. Housewives, lawyers and even civil servants have taken to the streets as anti-monarchy sentiment has grown across the country.

Delhi fears that Maoist movements in east India would be bolstered by the overthrow of the monarchy in Nepal, and is also worried about a possible exodus of refugees across the open border into the Indian states of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.

Human rights experts from the United Nations also condemned the embattled government's use of violence against the protestors. "The law enforcement agencies have resorted to indiscriminate firing of rubber bullets - even on occasion live ammunition - into crowds, beatings, raids on homes and destruction of property," they said.