TMCnet News
Protests continue in Nepal, rebels assert participation+(Japan Economic Newswire Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)KATHMANDU, April 16_(Kyodo) _ Protests against King Gyanendra continued throughout Nepal on Sunday, the 11th day of the general strike called by an alliance of seven political parties. Warring Maoist rebels asserted their role in the protests with their student wing acknowledging its presence. "We are very much (involved in the general strike), many of our cadres have been injured and arrested, and our presence would increase in the future," said Lekhnath Neupane, president of the All Nepal National Independent Students Union (Revolutionary), in a statement. Hundreds of protesters marched through the capital, shouting, "We will not stop until democracy is restored." Protest marches, mass meetings and demonstrations were held in all four cities of the Kathmandu valley. In Kathmandu, protesters smashed and set fire to over a dozen taxis and motorcycles for defying the strike. Protesters vandalized a bank office at Pulchowk of Patan City, while in Hetauda, some 50 kilometers south of the capital, a tanker carrying milk was torched. Businesses were shuttered in the capital. Thousands took part in a rally in Chitwan in southeast Nepal calling for the early restoration of democracy in the Himalayan nation. Protests and rallies were also held in many other places outside the capital. Major towns and cities, including Kathmandu, have been hit by shortages of food and petroleum products, media reports said. Highways across the country remained deserted of transport vehicles, and supplies were disrupted, the reports said. King Gyanendra continued to maintain his studied silence over the turmoil facing the nation, while his ministers justified a police crackdown on the protesters, saying the protests are not peaceful as claimed by the political parties. The king fired the multiparty government and assumed full power in February last year. The seven-party alliance, which has been opposing him since then, launched the general strike on April 6, bringing the nation to a standstill. Meanwhile, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter has cancelled his planned visit to Nepal, according to media reports. He was scheduled to make a four-day tour of the country from May 3. |