December 17, 2003	Wednesday	Shawwal 22, 1424

KATHMANDU, Dec 16: Nearly 8,000 activists from Nepal’s major political parties took to the streets of Kathmandu on Tuesday to denounce King Gyanendra for dismissing the elected government last year.

The protests fell on the anniversary of the dissolution of Nepal’s first parliamentary system in 1960 by King Gyanendra’s late father King Mahendra, who initiated three decades of partyless, absolute royal rule.—AFP