Millions of students went on strike yesterday closing nearly all of Nepal's educational institutions in protest at the army opening fire and wounding three of their colleagues last month, officials said.
The country's seven student unions jointly called for the closure after soldiers fired on a student union meeting on April 15 in southwestern Nepal, said Nepal Student Union leader Tek Raj Poudel.
The army has not denied the shootings in Mahendra Nagar and said troops had information that Maoist rebels were holding a meeting at a college in the town.
Poudel said that students held peaceful protests outside several colleges in Kathmandu during the morning.
Boarding schools also closed, after being warned not to remain open, said an official with the boarding schools' organization.
"They [student unions] informed our chairman by telephone to close all the boarding schools," he said.
Some 4.9 million students study at 25,000 public schools and another 1.5 million pupils attend 8,500 boarding schools in Nepal.
The students were also protesting the seizure of the "Ratoghar" (Red House) in Kathmandu on Tuesday by the Armed Police Force. The building houses the central office of the leftist All Nepal National Free Students' Union.
Dozens of activists from the seven student unions had also held several torch-lit demonstrations in Kathmandu on Thursday against King Gyanendra's February 1 power grab.
The students demanded the restoration of democracy and civil liberties and the release of all political detainees.
The king sacked the coalition government and imposed emergency rule saying the politicians had failed to tackle a raging Maoist insurgency that has left more than 11,000 people dead since 1996.
Emergency rule was lifted in April but the king has pursued a political crackdown and demonstrations remain banned.
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