September 5, 2003	Friday	Rajab 7, 1424

KATHMANDU, Sept 4: Nepalese police charged demonstrators with batons and rounded up hundreds of political activists as they stopped the kingdom’s main parties from carrying out a demonstration banned after Maoist rebels ended a ceasefire, witnesses said.

Around 3,000 protesters converged into central Kathmandu from seven directions in defiance of the ban on public meetings, giving themselves up peacefully as police snatched their party flags and herded them into waiting trucks.

“Long live democracy!” and “Down with the king’s regression!” protesters shouted out as they were driven away by police to the Dasharath football stadium which was turned into a makeshift jail.

Witnesses saw 26 trucks packed with protesters being taken away, enough to carry around 1,600 people. Activists said they would attempt a new rally Friday.

No deaths or serious injuries were reported, but riot police baton-charged demonstrators who threw stones at them near the Bir Hospital as they detained Amik Sherchan, leader of the far-left People’s Front party which is close to the Maoists.

The demonstration was organized by Nepal’s five major political parties.—AFP