KATHMANDU: The face of Nepal’s popular anti-monarchy protests — a diminutive, 88-year-old village woman who repeatedly braved tear gas and water cannon — has died after being hit by a motorcycle, her family said on Monday.

Chhaya Devi Parajuli was an ordinary member of the Nepali Congress, the biggest political party in the Himalayan nation, who came to Kathmandu from her village in 2002 when King Gyanendra first sacked the elected prime minister.

Since then, she was at the forefront of almost every demonstration in the Nepali capital against the king, who took absolute power last year saying he was acting to crush a Maoist insurgency.

Chhaya Parajuli, a short, frail woman who always sported white or yellow sandalwood paste on her forehead, was hit several times by tear gas shells and water cannon and arrested 35 times for her anti-monarch protests on the dusty streets of Kathmandu.

The protests peaked in April this year, often turning violent and forcing Gyanendra to back down and hand back power to political parties.

“I am not afraid,” Parajuli told Reuters during one protest. “I don’t care about myself, I care about my country. I care about my people.”

Parajuli, a mother of three daughters and two sons, was hit by a motorcycle last month and underwent treatment at a hospital in Kathmandu where she died at the weekend, her daughter said.

The veteran activist had been keen to meet Maoist leader Prachanda and tell him to work for peace, she added.

The Maoists and the interim government have been observing a ceasefire for more than three months and have held peace talks to try to end the decade-old insurgency which has killed more than 13,000 people.—Reuters