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LEAD: Nepal curfew lifted, protester killed by police+(Japan Economic Newswire Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)KATHMANDU, April 12_(Kyodo) _ (EDS: RECASTING WITH SHOOTING DEATH OF PROTESTER) Nepalese police shot dead a protester on Wednesday, bringing to four the number of people killed by police amid anti-king protests that began in the Himalayan nation last Thursday. EKantipur online news and Kantipur private radio reported Wednesday evening that party activist Bishnu Pandey died of bullet injuries sustained when police opened indiscriminate fire at a gathering of people in Parasi of Nawalparasi district, about 150 kilometers south of Kathmandu. Police gunfire also left 35 others with bullet injuries, the radio report said. After four consecutive days of curfew in Kathmandu, no daytime curfew was imposed in the Nepalese capital on Wednesday to the relief of its population. "Curfew imposed in the Ring Road Area of Kathmandu and Lalitpur districts has been lifted until further notice," the government-run Nepal Television said in an afternoon broadcast. But rallies and demonstrations demanding King Gyanendra give up his palace rule continued to be staged Wednesday, both in Kathmandu and in various other cities across the kingdom, reports reaching the capital said. Police intervened when activists and leaders of major political parties marched to the capital's center to hold what they said as a mass meeting to condole the death of pro-democracy workers shot by police. Scuffles ensued and a number of people, including policemen, were injured, witnesses said. Organizers said dozens of party leaders and activists were arrested. The government also disallowed a peaceful demonstration of journalists who were protesting the use of force by security personnel against civilians during protests in the capital on Tuesday. More than two dozen media personnel were reportedly rounded up there, while 19 journalists were reportedly detained in the western town of Pokhara. The king fired a multiparty government and imposed direct palace rule in Nepal 14 months ago. The seven major political parties say it is their peaceful protest aimed at mounting pressure on the Nepalese monarch to return to democracy. But the warring Maoist rebels are claiming that they too have a hand in the demonstrations that started a week ago, based on an understanding reached between the insurgents and Nepalese political parties in November last year. Rebel leader Baburam Bhattarai called on the party leaders Wednesday to "show courage and say that the rebels participation is only natural and indispensable." In an article published by the popular weekly Jana Astha, Bhattarai, who is the chief ideologue of the rebels, said chances of the so-called popular movement of the political parties being successful would be very slim without participation of the insurgents. This has given authorities of the king-led government a beating stick to crack down on the protesters, saying they are actually fighting the terrorists, not party activists. |