19 Jul 2005 08:07:32 GMT
Source: Reuters
KATHMANDU, July 19 (Reuters) - Six people were injured in Nepal on Tuesday when police broke up a protest staged to demand the release of student union leaders arrested for opposing a government order to print photographs of the king in text books.
'It was like a battlefield. Some of the students were profusely bleeding after police beat them,' Kathmandu taxi driver Bhagawan Chhetri said. 'The students then threw stones at cars before being chased away by police.'
Police in the Nepali capital said six of the roughly 200 demonstrators were hurt and dozens were detained.
The impoverished nation has been in turmoil since February, when King Gyanendra suspended democracy and seized power saying the move was necessary to crush an anti-monarchy Maoist revolt in which more than 12,500 people have died since 1996.
The Maoists want to install a communist republic in the Himalayan nation, which is tucked between China and India.
Pro-democracy activists and students regularly protest in Nepal, shouting slogans against the king and criticising the extraordinary powers he retains even after lifting emergency rule in April. Last week, top U.N. envoy Lakhdar Brahimi called during a visit to Nepal for an early restoration of democracy and an end to the conflict with the Maoists, saying one of the world's 10 poorest nations was facing a serious crisis.
In new violence, suspected Maoist rebels stormed a spinning mill in eastern Nepal at the weekend and bombed a key factory producing yarn, police said. "
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Tuesday, July 19, 2005
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