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Police arrest strike organizers in Nepal

President of the Nepal Bar Association Sambhu Thapa, second right, argues with riot police while being arrested for breaking a protest ban in Kathmandu yesterday. At least 40 professionals, including journalists, professors, lawyers and doctors were detained for defying the ban. PHOTO: AFP

Police detained dozens of politicians and ordered a night curfew yesterday to thwart an opposition strike this week, while rebels killed six security troops in an ambush in Nepal's southeast, officials and activists said.

Police also detained about 75 pro-democracy activists, including several journalists, who defied a ban on rallies in the capital to gather and express their support for the planned four-day strike starting today, aimed at pressing King Gyanendra to restore democracy more than a year after he seized control of the government.

In an order late yesterday, officials imposed an overnight curfew in Kathmandu, the capital, and its suburb of Lalitpur between 11pm yesterday and 3am today. The order is apparently aimed at preventing protesters from arriving in Kathmandu.

Maoist guerrillas, who have expressed support for the political parties' strike, continued attacks against the security forces.

Suspected rebels opened fire at security forces during an ambush in Durgapur village, which is 500km southeast of Kathmandu, killing five soldiers and a policeman, Bhola Siwakoti, the region's chief administrator, said in a telephone interview. Four other soldiers were also wounded.

The rebel chief Prachanda has promised not to carry out any attack in the capital this week, a pledge political activists say undermines the governments claim that it needs to crack down on protests in Kathmandu to stop would-be communist infiltrators from launching terror attacks.

But the government has dismissed the pledge by the rebels, and said that the political protests would be crushed -- with force if necessary.

The country's alliance of seven major political parties have planned rallies in the capital this week in addition to their call for a nationwide general strike.

"This is state terrorism, but we will not be scared by the crackdown," said Prakash Man Singh of the Nepali Congress Democratic party.

The raids on the homes of political organizers were launched early yesterday in the hope of heading off this week's rallies and general strike, a top government official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

Singh said that authorities targeted key organizers of the protests, and that more than two dozen members of the party had been detained.

Khadga Prasad Oli of the Communist Party of Nepal said three senior leaders of the party were taken by police, while a dozen members were also detained.

Also yesterday, police detained a group of 50 lawyers, journalists, teachers and doctors who gathered in Kathmandu to back the general strike.

The group had marched about 50m in defiance of the ban before police in riot gear quickly moved in and stopped them.

Hours later, police arrested 23 journalists in Kathmandu's main business district. Officials of the Federation of Nepalese Journalists and an Associated Press reporter at the site said the journalists were arrested after scuffles with police in riot gear.
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