Thousands join protest rally to oust Nepalese prime minister

Nepalese police have used tear gas and baton charges to disperse thousands of protesters demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala.

Police detained top opposition figures leading the protest rally that marched toward Singhadurbar, the central secretariat housing the Prime Minister's office.

They estimated the number of protesters at about 10,000.

Supporters of the four major opposition parties demonstrated through the main streets of the capital and tried to block the main entrance to Singhadurbar.

On the streets leading to Singhadurbar, demonstrators pelted police with stones and bricks, knocked down iron railings and shouted slogans demanding the resignation.

Hundreds of riot police fired several rounds of tear gas shells and beat some protesters with batons to disperse the protesters.

"We have detained at least 150 demonstrators and are doing all we can to clear the streets," said Kathmandu's police chief Madhav Thapa.

The communists and other opposition parties have been demanding Koirala's resignation since one of his Cabinet members was named in a bribery scandal involving the lease of an aircraft for the state-owned Royal Nepal Airlines. Tarini Dutta Chataut, the civil aviation minister, resigned from his job in January.

During the winter session of Parliament that adjourned early this month, all the opposition parties had joined forces and blocked business in the legislature, pressing their demand for the prime minister's resignation.

Mr Koirala has been prime minister for most of the 11 years since democracy was introduced in Nepal under a constitutional monarch.