Police clash with protesters in Nepal

POLICE battled protesters in Kathmandu's narrow alleys yesterday, using batons and tear gas to beat back stone-throwing students on the second day of a strike called by adversaries of Nepal's King Gyanendra.

The number of pro-democracy advocates arrested swelled to more than 750, a government minister said.

A post office in the capital was set on fire and students at Kathmandu's Tribhuwan University ransacked the dean's office and briefly held several officers hostage.