KATHMANDU, April 7: Hundreds more protesters were arrested on Friday in Nepal on the second day of a general strike amid violent demonstrations demanding King Gyanendra restore democracy.

“At least 100 people from Nepali Congress and 100 from the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist Leninist) were arrested on Friday morning” in the capital, said Nepali Congress Party secretary Shovarkar Parajuli.

He vowed the protests, which have seen several hundred people arrested over the past two days, would go on.

A demonstration in Patan, which adjoins Kathmandu, turned violent on Friday with more than 100 protesters throwing stones and bricks at police who responded with tear gas and baton charges.

Some protesters were badly beaten as they were arrested, AFP reporters at the scene said.

The streets of the capital were deserted again on Friday apart from the heavy security presence and sporadic protests usually by small numbers of people.

Defying a ban on public meetings, opposition parties have called a four-day general strike against King Gyanendra’s power grab over a year ago and have paralysed the country.

The government has locked up dozens of political leaders and arrested hundreds of people this week for breaking the ban.

—AFP