Nepal's anti-monarchy protests spread to the usually off-limits tourist district in Kathmandu yesterday, with hundreds of people chanting slogans against King Gyanendra and burning tires on the street.
Police arrested four people during the protest in the Thamel district, a maze of alleys full of backpacker hotels, bars, curio shops and trekking and travel agencies which is a magnet for most tourists entering the country.
Protests were held elsewhere in the city as well, with vehicles off the street on the 11th day of a general strike called by political parties. Around 20 people were detained during a protest by journalists.
Since Sunday is not a day off in Nepal, many people could be seen walking to work down Kathmandu's main thoroughfares.
"We will burn the crown and run the country," youths shouted as they danced around burning tires in the center of Thamel. "Death to the government."
Meanwhile, Nepal's capital faced shortages of fresh food, cooking gas and gasoline. Vendors said fresh green vegetables were unavailable and they were running out of the potatoes and onions they had in storage.
The strike has forced trucks off the highways, the only means of transporting goods and supplies in this mountainous nation with no train tracks. Only a handful of stores remained open yesterday.
"We have not had a single truck come in the past 11 days. Whatever we are selling was what we had in stock, or grown locally in Kathmandu," said Raj Maharjan, who was selling a few bundles of green onion at the Baneswor vegetable market.
Vegetable prices have risen fivefold, chicken and mutton prices have doubled and gas for cooking was scarce.
Only a few vehicles were plying the streets, and the bus station in the city center was also deserted.
"We have not had any buses leave on long distance routes. Thousands of passengers have been stranded, but we are not sure when the strike will end," said Ramesh Gurung, a bus driver who was playing cards with fellow drivers.
"I have only a little money left and no relatives in Kathmandu. I need to get home to Butwal [in south Nepal] but I have been stuck away from my family," said Madhav Silwal, a milk farmer.
The Civil Aviation Authority said most of the internal and international flights were taking off on schedule. However, the majority of the population cannot afford to buy air tickets.
Thousands of pro-democracy protesters have been demonstrating every day in the streets of Kathmandu and major cities and towns since April 6 when the alliance of seven main opposition parties called the general strike to protest King Gyanendra's rule.
Many protests have ended in clashes with security forces, who have already shot dead four people.
The protests are the worst unrest Gyanendra has faced since he sacked the government and seized power 14 months ago.
The king said he took control to restore political order and end a communist insurgency that has left nearly 13,000 people dead in the past decade and made holding elections impossible.
The seven main opposition parties decided late on Friday to continue with the strike and protests after Gyanendra offered few concessions in a message he delivered to mark Nepal's New Year.
Australians were downloading virtual private networks (VPNs) in droves, while one of the world’s largest porn distributors said it was blocking users from its platforms as the country yesterday rolled out sweeping online age restriction. Australia in December became the first country to impose a nationwide ban on teenagers using social media. A separate law now requires artificial intelligence (AI)-powered chatbot services to keep certain content — including pornography, extreme violence and self-harm and eating disorder material — from minors or face fines of up to A$49.5 million (US$34.6 million). The country also joined Britain, France and dozens of US states requiring
Hungarian authorities temporarily detained seven Ukrainian citizens and seized two armored cars carrying tens of millions of euros in cash across Hungary on suspicion of money laundering, officials said on Friday. The Ukrainians were released on Friday, following their detention on Thursday, but Hungarian officials held onto the cash, prompting Ukraine to accuse Hungary’s Russia-friendly government of illegally seizing the money. “We will not tolerate this state banditism,” Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrii Sybiha said. The seven detained Ukrainians were employees of the Ukrainian state-owned Oschadbank, who were traveling in the two armored cars that were carrying the money between Austria and
Kosovar President Vjosa Osmani on Friday after dissolving the Kosovar parliament said a snap election should be held as soon as possible to avoid another prolonged political crisis in the Balkan country at a time of global turmoil. Osmani said it is important for Kosovo to wrap up the upcoming election process and form functional institutions for political stability as the war rages in the Middle East. “Precisely because the geopolitical situation is that complex, it is important to finish this electoral process which is coming up,” she said. “It is very hard now to imagine what will happen next.” Kosovo, which declared
MORE BANS: Australia last year required sites to remove accounts held by under-16s, with a few countries pushing for similar action at an EU level and India considering its own ban Indonesia on Friday said it would ban social media access for children under 16, citing threats from online pornography, cyberbullying, online fraud and Internet addiction. “Accounts belonging to children under 16 on high-risk platforms will start to be deactivated, beginning with YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X, Bigo Live and Roblox,” Indonesian Minister of Communications and Digital Meutya Hafid said. “The government is stepping in so that parents no longer have to fight alone against the giants of the algorithm. Implementation will begin on March 28, 2026,” she said. The social media ban would be introduced in stages “until all platforms fulfill their
RSS