05 Sep 2005 10:50:24 GMT
KATHMANDU, Sept 5 (Reuters) - Nepal's royalist government freed more than 160 anti-king protesters detained during a pro-democracy rally which turned violent at the weekend, police said on Monday.
The activists, including former Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala, were detained on Sunday during a rally criticising King Gyanendra's Feb. 1 power seizure and demanding the restoration of democracy.
"All those who were detained were released late on Sunday," a police officer told Reuters.
The 82-year-old Koirala who fainted during a scuffle with police when protesters tried to break through a police cordon was taken to his home and freed on Sunday.
Dozens of protesters from seven mainstream political parties were also injured when police used batons and lobbed tear gas shells in the old part of the temple-studded capital where the protests were organised.
Seven political parties that controlled more than 190 seats in the 205-member parliament dissolved in 2002 have been protesting since February when Gyanendra, officially a constitutional monarch, suspended civil liberties.
The king said his move was prompted by the failure of squabbling political parties to quell an increasingly deadly Maoist insurgency in which more than 12,500 people have died.
The Maoists want to overthrow the monarchy and set up a communist republic in the impoverished Himalayan kingdom.
The parties said they were undaunted by the crackdown.
"We will continue our protests until democracy is restored," said Subhash Nemwang, a senior member of the Communist Unified Marxist-Leninist (UML) party, the second largest group in the seven-party alliance.
He said activists would organise anti-king rallies in Kathmandu on Monday.
Sphere: Related Content
Monday, September 05, 2005
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment