SHOT DEAD FOR PROTESTING AGAINST CORRUPTION IN NEPAL
KATHMANDU, Sept 8 (Reuters) - At least 19 people in two cities died on Monday in Nepal's worst unrest in decades, authorities said, as police in the capital fired tear gas and rubber bullets at protesters trying to storm parliament in anger at a social media shutdown and corruption.
Some of the protesters, most of them young, forced their way into the parliament complex in Kathmandu by breaking through a barricade, a local official said, setting fire to an ambulance and hurling objects at lines of riot police guarding the legislature.
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With 72 people killed, last week's protests were the deadliest unrest in the Himalayan country in decades. Official buildings, residences of political leaders and luxury hotels such as the Hilton, which opened in July 2024, were torched, vandalised and looted. The wife of a former prime minister is fighting for her life after their home was set ablaze.
The protests represented "a wholesale rejection of Nepal's current political class for decades of poor governance and exploitation of state resources", said Ashish Pradhan, a senior adviser at the International Crisis Group. But the damage to government services, he added, could "parallel the toll of the 2015 earthquake which took almost 9,000 lives".
The destruction is not only confined to the capital Kathmandu - at least 300 local government offices across the nation have been damaged.
The financial losses could amount to 3 trillion Nepalese rupees ($21.3bn; £15.6bn), nearly half of the country's GDP, according to the Kathmandu Post. Its offices were also attacked by crowds and set on fire.
Nineteen killed in Nepal in 'Gen Z' protest over social media ban, corruption:
Officials said they imposed the ban because platforms had failed to register with authorities in a crackdown on misuse, including false social media accounts used to spread hate speech and fake news, and commit fraud.
Two of the 19 people were killed when protests in the eastern city of Itahari turned violent, police said.
Home Minister Ramesh Lekhak resigned from the government after taking "moral responsibility" for the violence, another government minister, who requested anonymity because he was not authorised to speak with the media.
Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli called an emergency cabinet meeting to discuss the unrest, which erupted after thousands of young people, including many wearing their school or college uniforms, took to the streets earlier on Monday.
Many carried flags and placards with slogans such as "Shut down corruption and not social media," "Unban social media," and "Youths against corruption" as they marched through Kathmandu.
Organisers of the protests, which spread to other cities in the Himalayan country, have called them "demonstrations by Gen Z." They say the protests reflect young people's widespread frustration with the government's perceived lack of action to tackle corruption and boost economic opportunities.
This is the protest by the new generation in Nepal.
Item 1 of 7 Stones thrown by demonstrators cover the road in front of the parliament during a protest in Kathmandu, Nepal, September 8. REUTERS/Navesh Chitrakar
[1/7]Stones thrown by demonstrators cover the road in front of the parliament during a protest in Kathmandu, Nepal, September 8. REUTERS/Navesh Chitrakar Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab
International non profit organization Human Rights Watch said the government of Nepal should avoid perceiving these protests primarily through a law enforcement perspective and recognize that demonstrators’ mass outpourings of criticism reflect deep frustrations throughout Nepal with entrenched corruption, nepotism, and poor governance.
“Nonviolent means should be utilized before resorting to force," it said in a statement. "The use of force is only appropriate if other measures to address a genuine threat have proved ineffective.”
BATONS AND RUBBER BULLETS
Police had orders to use water cannons, batons and rubber bullets to control the crowd and the army was deployed in the parliament area to bolster law enforcement officers, Muktiram Rijal, a spokesperson for the Kathmandu district office, told Reuters.
Violence abated later in the evening although protesters remained in the area outside parliament.
Police said similar protests were also held in Biratnagar and Bharatpur in the southern plains and in Pokhara in western Nepal.
Many people in Nepal think corruption is rampant, and the Oli government has been criticised by opponents for failing to deliver on its promises to tackle graft or make progress to address longstanding economic issues.
The Oli government has said the economy was recovering because of corrective measures it had taken.
Thousands of young Nepalis go abroad every year for work and education.
Nepal has been politically unstable since it abolished a 239-year-old monarchy in 2008. There have been 14 governments since 2008, not one of which has completed a full five-year term. Oli, 73, was sworn in to his fourth term last year.
Rameshwore Khanal, a former finance secretary, said although job creation is not up to expectations, popular anger appears to stem more from unhappiness with government appointments and its inability to stamp out corruption.
Nepal's social media shutdown comes as governments worldwide take steps to tighten oversight of social media and Big Tech due to growing concern about issues such as misinformation, data privacy, online harm and national security.
Critics say many of these measures risk stifling free expression, but regulators say stricter controls are needed to protect users and preserve social order.
CONCLUSION
Authorities in Nepal have raised the death toll from last week's unrest to 72 as search teams recover bodies from government offices, houses and other buildings set on fire during the anti-corruption protests, the Health Ministry said. Security forces fired tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse the protesters, some of whom torched state buildings, including the Supreme Court, parliament, police posts, politicians' homes and private businesses. The ministry's previous death toll was 51, updated as of Saturday. The latest data showed on Sunday that at least 2,113 people had been injured in the violence.
Former Chief Justice Sushila Karki has replaced Oli as interim prime minister, becoming the first woman to lead the Himalayan nation, and is tasked with holding a new parliamentary election called for March 5.
Karki, who formally took office on Sunday, said the government would pay compensation of 1 million rupees (about $7,100) to the families of those killed in the unrest and provide free treatment to the injured.
She began work in a building close to the prime minister's office, which was set on fire during the protests.
"We must now engage in rebuilding the destroyed structures,"Karki told senior government officials, state television reported.
REFERENCE
www.hindu.com
