People take to streets after king’s climbdown

TENS of thousands of people celebrated in the streets of Nepal yesterday as weeks of pro-democracy protests were called off after the king gave in to a key demand to reinstate parliament.

But communist insurgents who had supported the protesters rejected the king's offer, a sign that the turmoil in this Himalayan country is not over.

King Gyanendra's concession on Monday night handed power back to elected politicians and cleared the way for the creation of a new constitution that could leave him largely powerless, or even eliminate the monarchy.

Across the capital, people streamed into the streets, singing and clapping.

"We have forced the king to his knees," said Rajan Sreshta, an opposition activist. "It shows the people are the actual power."

By morning, life was almost back to normal in Kathmandu, where the crisis had alternately filled streets with protesters and emptied them because of curfews.

"People Power Wins" the Kathmandu Post, an English-language newspaper, blared in enormous letters.

Demonstrators celebrating in a park in the centre of the capital said they were thrilled by the return of parliament, but some remained sceptical about their political leaders.

"Nepal is free again, and we're here to make sure it will remain free forever," said demonstrator Sunita Maharjan.

The opposition alliance will now "bear the responsibility of taking the nation on the path of national unity and prosperity," Gyanendra said in his address, broadcast on state TV and radio.

The announcement was dismissed by the Maoist insurgents as "a conspiracy to protect the regime," according to a statement signed by the rebel leader Prachanda and his deputy Baburam Bhattarai.

They warned that the seven-party opposition alliance had betrayed the Maoists by welcoming the announcement and vowed to press ahead with blockades that have sealed off major roads in the country, leading to serious shortages of food and fuel in Kathmandu.

Alliance officials had said earlier that they wanted to pull the Maoists into the political mainstream, and planned to declare a cease-fire with them once a new government was formed.

The opposition leaders said they wanted former Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala, head of the Nepali Congress party, to lead the new government.

The alliance also formally called off the protests and general strike that had nearly paralysed life in Nepal for weeks.

Mr Koirala, 84, has been a politician for decades, a prime minister four times and is the head of the country's largest political party.

He has been a hero of the democratic movement spending seven years in prison in the 1960s for fighting for democratic rule as well as a symbol of the tiny political class that took hold of Nepal after 1990 and left many people here badly disillusioned with their politicians.