KATHMANDU, April 19: Indian envoys carried a crisis message to Nepal’s king as the death toll rose on Wednesday ahead of a major pro-democracy protest marking the start of the third week of a bitter general strike.
The scene was set for a grim street battle in the capital, where protests are banned, and a diplomatic showdown between neighbour India and the absolute monarch in Nepal.
Adding to the tension, the protest death toll rose to six when a woman succumbed on Tuesday night from face wounds after security forces and thousands of demonstrators clashed during an anti-royal rally in western Nepal, police said.
“A woman protester died after being hit in the face by a teargas grenade,” a police officer said.
She was being ferried by ambulance to hospital over the border in Lucknow when she died of her injuries, said the officer from Nepalgunj, 500 kilometres west of the capital Kathmandu.
He said a total of 25 more civilians were injured, two seriously, during a protest by at least 20,000 people in Nepalgunj.
The officer admitted live rounds as well as rubber bullets and teargas had been fired at the crowd when violence broke out.
“Yes we fired .303 bullets at the crowd to disperse them and bring the situation under control,” he said.
Fifteen members of the security forces were also hurt, three seriously, during clashes with protesters in the biggest town in western Nepal.
The unnamed woman was the second female to die in the demonstrations and general strike that have swept Nepal and entered their 14th day on Wednesday.
Although some small shops opened and taxis were on the roads, the capital remained largely paralysed after another day of strikes, protests, arrests and dozens of reported injuries across Nepal.
Several dozen home ministry workers were arrested as the mass movement spread to government offices.
India’s foreign secretary Shyam Saran and special envoy Karan Singh were first expected to see the king on Wednesday, but Indian officials later said the meeting would now be held on Thursday.
The same day seven opposition parties have pledged to hold a major rally in Kathmandu as the next step in the nationwide movement to force the king to give up absolute power.—AFP
