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Nepal cracks down dissent { December 2006 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=1525996http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=1525996
Nepal curfew thwarts planned rally as many held
Reuters
Jan 20, 2006 — By Simon Denyer and Gopal Sharma
KATHMANDU - Soldiers and armed police enforced a curfew in the Nepali capital on Friday and placed leading politicians under house arrest, thwarting a planned protest against the king, who seized absolute power last year.
Armored personnel carriers mounted with machineguns were stationed across Kathmandu, while thousands of soldiers and police in green and blue camouflage fanned out to guard almost every street, square and junction.
Police said more than 200 people had been detained for violating the curfew.
Former Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala and other leading politicians were put under house arrest before dawn on Friday, hours before the rally was due to take place to press King Gyanendra to restore democracy.
The crackdown was effective and the ancient square due to host the demonstration was deserted throughout the day. Police armed with rifles and machineguns sat on temple steps or took shelter from the sun under ornate pagodas.
More than 100 politicians and student activists were also detained on Thursday and mobile phone links cut.
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said he was dismayed by the arrests, while the United States, the European Union, Japan and neighbor India joined in the criticism.
In New Delhi, U.S. Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns criticised the king and the Maoists, who are waging a bloody rebellion since 1996.
"The United States is very concerned by the actions of His Majesty the King and arresting and detaining of members of the political establishment in the last couple of days," he told a news conference.
At Koirala's house, armed police prevented a Reuters team from entering, or meeting the former prime minister, who is spearheading a multi-party alliance against King Gyanendra. Guards said phone lines to the house had been cut.
"This is an extreme form of dictatorship by the king," Koirala's Nepali Congress party said in a statement.
A dozen soldiers marched past ancient temples in the Patan Durbar Square, empty of its usual crowd of foreign tourists.
MOUNTING ANGER
The king says he was forced to take power last year to stem the Maoist insurgency that has killed more than 12,500 people since 1996. But his actions have left him increasingly unpopular and isolated, and he has so far failed to contain the rebellion.
Anti-Gyanendra protests have steadily gathered strength, with around 100,000 people demonstrating last week in the southeastern town of Janakpur.
Thousands had been expected to join Friday's rally, despite a government-imposed ban on protests. Life quickly returned to normal on the city streets when the curfew was relaxed at 6 p.m. but there was no sign of any significant protests.
Activists said protests had taken place in other cities, and threatened a larger protest in Kathmandu on Saturday.
A few hundred people carrying party flags marched through the nearby temple town of Bhaktapur, and students burned tyres at Tribhuvan University, just outside the capital.
"Gyanendra, thief, leave the country," they chanted.
Trader Umanath Gilal, 35, on his way home minutes before the curfew went into force, criticised the curfew.
"We can't do our business and earn a living. I won't be participating in the protests but I support the protesters."
The Maoists, who have been fighting to set up a single-party communist republic, have entered into a loose alliance with the country's main political parties against the monarch.
Earlier this week they urged people to join the rally, and last week stepped up the military pressure with coordinated attacks around Kathmandu that killed 12 policemen.
On January 2, the Maoists ended a four-month unilateral ceasefire, saying the government had failed to match it, and vowed to take their revolt from the countryside into the cities.
Copyright 2006 Reuters News Service. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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