Curfew violators to be shot on sight in Nepal

Soldiers and police patrolled Nepal’s capital Kathmandu today to enforce a shoot-on-sight curfew aimed to keep anti-monarchy protesters off the streets, but opposition leaders said they would still hold a planned rally.

District administration officers said the 2am-8pm curfew was necessary to prevent opposition parties from holding the huge rally, planned for today, to demand that King Gyanendra loosen his grip on power.

Security forces have orders to shoot curfew violators on sight. Diplomats, journalists and human rights monitors have not been issued passes allowing them onto the streets as they have in the past.

However, opposition leaders met and decided to go ahead with protest plans.

Krishna Sitaula of the Nepali Congress party said there would be rallies at Kathmandu’s major entry points, where protesters will try to break through police lines.

No clashes or protests were reported in the city early today, as hundreds of troops patrolled the deserted streets.

A ring road that circles Kathmandu – and has been the venue of recent protests to evade a rule banning demonstrations in the city itself – was also empty in the morning.

About 5,000 protesters rallied in Kirtipur, just south-west of Kathmandu, but they did not march toward the capital as planned earlier, said local resident Arun Giri.

There is no curfew in Kirtipur, a farming suburb, so authorities allowed the rally.

Another small rally was held in the Kalanki area on Kathmandu’s eastern edge, also outside the curfew area.

Two weeks of often-violent protests and a general strike against palace rule have paralysed Nepal, leaving cities short of food and fuel and the Himalayan country at its most volatile since King Gyanendra seized power 14 months ago.

The royal government has responded harshly, claiming Nepal’s communist insurgents – who are now allied with the opposition – have infiltrated rallies to instigate violence. Police have beaten, tear gassed and arrested thousands of protesters.

Security forces have killed at least 10 Nepalis, including some pro-democracy protesters shot dead yesterday, since the opposition launched a general strike on April 6.

Officials claimed security forces opened fire yesterday only after being shot at during an assault by brick-throwing protesters in Chandragadi, about 310 miles south-east of Kathmandu.

The government has made such claims in the past, but no shootings by protesters have been independently verified.

The opposition campaign has brought ordinary Nepalis into the streets alongside students and political activists. About 250 professors held a protest yesterday. All were arrested.

Several thousand people protested in Kathmandu. Some hurled bricks at police, who responded with tear gas, rubber bullets and baton charges.

While many in the city said they hoped that today’s protest will be peaceful if it takes place, others said they did not fear violence.