KATHMANDU, April 6: Hundreds of protesters were detained on Thursday as opposition parties, backed by Maoist rebels, launched a four-day strike for democracy against King Gyanendra’s absolute rule.

Police were deployed in force along deserted streets in the capital and most businesses shut. Highways across the kingdom were also empty, witnesses said.

At least 300 people were detained, a protest leader told AFP, on top of around 100 held on Wednesday that included dozens of political leaders.

“Some 250 protesters were rounded up Thursday morning by police in the Kathmandu valley, and 50 more were arrested in Hetaunda,” a town 150km south of Kathmandu, said Rajendra Pandey, a leader from the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist Leninist).

But Kathmandu police said only 80 people had been arrested by lunchtime.

Along with the nationwide strike, seven political parties have also called a mass protest in Kathmandu on Saturday. In response, authorities have banned public meetings and slapped a night time curfew in the capital.—AFP