About ten thousand people marched through Nepal's capital yesterday, demanding the restoration of democracy in the biggest show of opposition strength since King Gyanendra seized absolute power three months ago.
In two rallies organized by unions to commemorate May Day, demonstrators carried placards calling for an end to the king's direct rule. Gyanendra on Saturday lifted a state of emergency that had given police unlimited powers, but retained direct rule. The demonstrators stayed away from restricted areas around the king's palace and government offices, and police did not interfere with the protests.
In the biggest show of strength since Gyanendra seized power in February, nearly 2,000 people participated in the first rally and another 8,000 in the second march through the streets of Katmandu, watched by people from homes and rooftops.
PHOTO: AP
The protesters carried red flags and chanted: ``We want democracy, down with autocracy.''
Nepal's major political parties vowed yesterday to continue widespread protests to resist the king's absolute rule and to demand the return of democracy in the Himalayan nation, despite the monarch lifting a three-month-old state of emergency. He still rules without an elected government or parliament and there has been no word on the release of hundreds of political workers jailed under emergency rule. Censorship on the media continues and a dozen journalists remain in jail for criticizing the monarchy. Cable operators are still banned from airing Indian news channels, which have been critical of the king's actions.
Gyanendra also extended the term of a royal commission set up under emergency rule to probe corruption during the past 14 years of democratic rule. Several political leaders, including sacked Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, were arrested recently at the direction of the commission.
The government said emergency was lifted because security had improved in Nepal. But Kashinath Adhikari of the Communist Party of Nepal said that, "The ban on protests in the main areas of Katmandu is an example that there is still authoritarian rule in Nepal."
The surprise lifting of the state of emergency followed the king's return on Friday from visits to China, Indonesia and Singapore, where leaders pressed him to restore democracy. At an African-Asian Summit in Indonesia days ago, Gyanendra met several leaders including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of India and UN Secretary General Kofi Annan. Annan urged Nepal to "return to constitutional rule as soon as possible."
The meeting with Singh was crucial, because India -- a key arms source for Nepal's fight against the communist insurgency -- suspended military aid after Gyanendra's power grab. Singh agreed to resume it after Gyanendra reportedly assured him that Nepal would restore democracy.
When a hiker fell from a 55m waterfall in wild New Zealand bush, rescuers were forced to evacuate the badly hurt woman without her dog, which could not be found. After strangers raised thousands of dollars for a search, border collie Molly was flown to safety by a helicopter pilot who was determined to reunite the pet and the owner. A week earlier, an emergency rescue helicopter found the woman with bruises and lacerations after a fall at a rocky spot at the waterfall on the South Island’s West Coast. She was airlifted on March 24, but they were forced to
HIGH HOPES: The power source is expected to have a future, as it is not dependent on the weather or light, and could be useful for places with large desalination facilities A Japanese water plant is harnessing the natural process of osmosis to generate renewable energy that could one day become a common power source. The possibility of generating power from osmosis — when water molecules pass from a less salty solution to a more salty one — has long been known. However, actually generating energy from that has proved more complicated, in part due the difficulty of designing the membrane through which the molecules pass. Engineers in Fukuoka, Japan, and their private partners think they might have cracked it, and have opened what is only the world’s second osmotic power plant. It generates
Hundreds of Filipinos and tourists flocked to a sun-bleached field north of Manila yesterday, on Good Friday, to witness one of the country’s most blood-soaked displays of religious fervor, undeterred by rising fuel prices. Scores of bare-chested flagellants with covered faces walked barefoot through the dusty streets of Pampanga Province’s San Fernando as they flogged their backs with bamboo whips in the scorching heat. Agence France-Presse (AFP) journalists said they saw devotees deliberately puncturing their skin with glass shards attached to a small wooden paddle to ensure their bleeding during the ritual, a way to atone for sins and seek miracles from
Chinese dissident artist Gao Zhen (高兟), famous for making provocative satirical sculptures of former Chinese leader Mao Zedong (毛澤東), was tried on Monday over accusations of “defaming national heroes and martyrs,” his wife and a rights group said. Gao, 69, who was detained in 2024 during a visit from the US, faces a maximum three-year prison sentence, said his wife, Zhao Yaliang (趙雅良), and Shane Yi, a researcher at the Chinese Human Rights Defenders group which operates outside the nation. The closed-door, one-day trial took place at Sanhe City People’s Court in Hebei Province neighboring the capital, Beijing, and ended without a
RSS