35 injured as police clash with protesters in Nepal
KATHMANDU, April 18: Around 35 people were injured on Sunday as police in Nepal's capital brawled with thousands of anti-monarchy protesters including former lawmakers and radical students, witnesses said.
Protesters lobbed stones and bricks at armed police who were rushed to control a growing crowd outside the palace of King Gyanendra, who the opposition has called on to restore elected rule.
Witnesses said at least 10 policemen were struck by the projectiles including a senior officer, identified as Mahendra Bhattachan by paramedics who carried him off in a stretcher.
Eight more demonstrators and six policemen were hurt in a separate clash led by former prime minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, whose sacking by King Gyanendra in October 2002 ushered in royal rule, a reporter at the scene said. Deuba was not hurt, but the witness said Chitralekha Yadav, deputy speaker of the dissolved parliament, was lightly hurt when she was hit by police batons.
Police had no comment on the injuries but said an unspecified number of protesters were rounded up. The opposition said 1,000 people were taken into custody. Most people detained have been released within hours in the 10 days since the government banned protests in Kathmandu saying the rallies would be infiltrated by Maoist rebels who rule much of Nepal's countryside.
However, leftist students said 15 of their activists remained in custody from Saturday's demonstrations. In protest, students tried to stop cars from passing outside the main campus of the kingdom's most prestigious Tribhuvan University, burning tyres and lobbing stones at police who eventually allowed traffic to resume.
Witnesses said about 12 people were hurt, most of them lightly, on both sides. Students had already declared the campus off-limits to police and on Wednesday tore down portraits of the king, who is the university's titular chancellor.
"We will lock all the offices of campus administrators on Monday if the students are not freed," student activist Prasant Rimal said. The king has agreed to hold new elections by April 2005, but the opposition wants them held under an all-party government. -AFP
