Kathmandu, Nov 12: Nepal’s Maoists today put up a huge show of strength as tens of thousands of their supporters laid a siege to government secretariat here demanding an end to CPN-UML’s rule, leading to clashes with police which left 50 people, including MPs and an ex-deputy premier, injured.
Clashes erupted when riot police tried to prevent former rebels from entering prohibited areas during their protest, one of the biggest against the multi-party government led by premier Madhav Kumar Nepal of CPN-UML since the Maoists lost power in May. Authorities had deployed thousands of police personnel to control Maoist protesters, who were led by their chief Pushpakamal Dahal Prachanda and another top leader Mohan Vaidya Kiran. The Maoist leaders said their campaign was for maintaining “civilian supremacy”. Police resorted to baton charge and fired teargas shells at agitating Maoist cadres, who were trying to break the security shield in the prohibited area near ‘Singhdurbar Secretariat’, the seat of the government. At least 50 people, most of them Maoist MPs, were injured in clashes with police. Among the injured Maoist Constituent Assembly members were Krishna Mah-ara, Sushma Ghimire, Bhagat Badawal, Rupa Chaudhari, Mahendra Shrestha and ex-Deputy premier Amik Sherchan. The situation in Singhdurbar, Anamnagar, Bhadrakali, Ratnapark, Thapathali and Dillibazaar areas of Kathmandu remained tense due to the protest.
The injured were undergoing treatment at the Everest Hospital and Bir Hospital in Kathmandu. Maoist protesters started moving towards ‘Singhdurbar Secretariat’ since dawn, chanting anti-government slogans. Some of them also recited poems, sang songs and danced while demonstrating in front of the government secretariat. “We are out to achieve true people’s rule,” Vaidya told his supporters in the beginning of the protest. He said the party was hoping to mobilise more than three lakh people for the protest which would continue till tomorrow.
Besides Prachanda and Vaidya, senior Maoist leaders including Baburam Bhattarai, Narayan Kaji Shrestha, C P Gajurl and Krishna Bahadur Mahara led the rallies from eight sides to surround the government secretariat in the heart of the city. Demonstrators prevented officials from entering the office complex but some of the officers managed to sneak in as the government had told them to report for duty early. Prachanda, who quit in May after his government collapsed, said the protest would continue until the party’s demands for formation of a national unity government led by Maoists and parliamentary discussion on President Ram Baran Yadav’s move to reinstate then army chief Rukmangad Katwal were met. “It is our duty as law abiding citizens to come to the rescue of the country and that’s why we have gathered here in such large numbers,” he said.
Waving red flags, the Maoist protesters chanted slogans ‘down with the puppet government’, ‘resign puppet government’ and ‘President take back unconstitutional action’ of reinstating Katwal. To avoid confrontation, the government had yesterday withdrawn orders to extend restricted area around the government secretariat. The Maoists were determined not to allow even a single civil servant into the Singhdurbar complex which houses all the ministries and most of government departments.
Meanwhile, a Maoist cadre was killed and 55 injured as a bus ferrying them from Tanahu district to Kathmandu for the protest met with an accident at Ambu Khaireni in western Nepal, media here said. The condition of 10 people who sustained injuries was stated to be serious. (PTI)
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