TMCnet News
General strike cripples life in Nepal+(Japan Economic Newswire Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)KATHMANDU, Jan. 26_(Kyodo) _ Towns and cities across Nepal were paralyzed Thursday by an anti-government strike called by Nepal's seven-party alliance demanding the restoration of democracy. Demonstrators took to the cities in the capital Kathmandu and other parts of the country as riot police stood guard. The dawn-to-dusk strike kept cars and buses off roads, and schools, shops and private offices were closed. At least a dozen people were injured when police opened fire at a group of demonstrators in the western resort town of Pokhara, with one person being admitted to hospital with bullet injuries, local media reported. The government has yet to give details of arrests, but organizers said around 100 activists were held across the country. The strike came on the day of filing nominations by candidates contesting controversial municipal elections slated for Feb. 8. The alliance opposes the polls, saying they are a mere ploy to perpetuate King Gyanendra's undemocratic rule. The royalist government says the polls form the first part of the king's roadmap to the return to democracy. The king has announced that Nepal's delayed parliamentary elections will be held by mid-April 2007, in the second and final act of his roadmap. The alliance partners, which held a hefty majority in the dissolved parliament, however, want the king to first hand back power he seized in a royal coup nearly one year ago. They are calling for a political roundtable conference, and elections for a constituent assembly that would write a new constitution to strip the king of his remaining powers. |