With opposition to Nepal's monarchist government growing in intensity, more than 1,000 people were detained Friday in Katmandu, the capital, for violating a ban on public gatherings imposed this week. As many as 25,000 demonstrators defied the ban, according to news agency reports, capping a week of protests in favor of democracy.
Nepal has been embroiled in a civil war between Maoist rebels and the government that has left more than 9,500 dead, at least one-fourth of them since a ceasefire broke down at the end of August.
And it has been mired in a standoff between the five main opposition political parties and King Gyanendra that began when the king dismissed the elected prime minister and dissolved Parliament in October 2002.
PHOTO: EPA
Scheduled elections were postponed and efforts at rapprochement have failed.
Growing public frustration has led to the widespread expression of public sentiment against the king, who has historically been seen as a unifying force in Nepal. On April 4, the police injured more than 150 people when they used truncheons, rubber bullets and tear gas against protesters marching on the palace and chanting anti-monarchist slogans.
The king returned to Katmandu on Friday after a two-week tour of the country's western districts.
The Maoists, meanwhile, have stepped up their attacks on police posts and government centers in other areas of the country.
They have also been undertaking large-scale, if usually temporary, abductions of civilians to indoctrinate them.
Last weekend the Maoists also attacked Indian oil trucks after the Indian police arrested a senior Maoist leader in Kolkata, India.
The State Department warned American citizens this week against traveling to Nepal after two reports that American trekkers had been detained by the Maoists. The US is providing US$17 million in military aid to the government.
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