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150 hurt as police fire on protesters(The Express On Sunday Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)POLICE opened fire on more than 100,000 anti-monarchy protesters who defied a curfew and marched on the king's palace in Kathmandu yesterday. Around 150 were wounded, according to politicians, and scores were rushed to hospital as the authorities pushed back the crowds half a mile from the heart of the Nepal capital. "Most of them have been hurt by tear gas or in a stampede as they fled, " said a doctor in the city. "But some have bullet wounds." The 16th day of protest, with marchers waving branches and red communist flags, came as a seven-party alliance rejected overtures by King Gyanendra to form a government. Mobile phone services were cut as the rallies began, apparently to prevent organisers from communicating. As truckloads of armed police ringed the city centre, marchers were dispersed, only to regroup. But rain in the afternoon saw the protesters head for cover. Troops armed with automatic weapons and backed by armoured cars took up position around the palace as helicopters flew overhead. King Gyanendra broadcast to the nation on Friday and offered to hand over executive power. "The proclamation has no meaning, " said former prime minister Girija Prasad Koirala of the Nepali Congress, the largest party in the alliance. Protesters shouted "the royal proclamation is a sham" as they threw branches and rocks across roads to block vehicles. "It started very peacefully and we just joined the back of a very long procession, " said Ian Chalmers, a tourist from Hertfordshire. "Suddenly tear gas shells rained down." King Gyanendra said on Friday that he was restoring political power to the people and asked the alliance spearheading the pro-democracy campaign to name a new prime minister. The king sacked the government and took full powers in February 2005, vowing to crush a decadeold Maoist revolt in which more than 13,000 people have died. The seven-party alliance has been agitating since April 6 to force King Gyanendra to restore multi-party democracy. At least 12 people have been killed and hundreds wounded in police action against protesters since then. The king appeared to rule out any change to the constitution to curb his powers. But political parties have said holding elections in which a new constitution would be drawn up is critical. "The structure remains with the palace. Forming a government doesn't mean anything in the present context, " said Lok Raj Baral, executive chairman of the Nepal Centre for Contemporary Studies, a private think-tank. He added: "The situation has gone far beyond that." The impoverished kingdom has been virtually at a standstill, with the movement of goods and people blocked by a general strike and crippling street protests across the Himalayan nation. The Maoist rebels, who are loosely linked to the alliance, have insisted that a new constitution must be prepared by a constituent assembly as a precondition to joining the political mainstream. King Gyanendra came to the throne in Nepal after the 2001 palace massacre when his elder brother, Birendra, was killed by his own son, Crown Prince Dipendra. |