Tens of thousands of Maoist supporters demonstrated in the streets of Nepal’s capital Kathmandu yesterday in a massive show of force to press the embattled government to quit.
Security was on high alert amid fears the demonstration could lead to fresh turmoil for the impoverished Himalayan country, which is still recovering from a deadly civil war.
Riot police were posted at all major city intersections and at least 15,000 security personnel had been deployed to avert violence, police spokesman Bigyan Raj Sharma said.
PHOTO: AFP
Parts of the city were a sea of bright red flags waved by demonstrators who chanted: “Dissolve this puppet government and set up a national government.”
The Maoist party, which has the largest number of seats in parliament, is demanding the ruling coalition be replaced by a new, Maoist-led administration. It said it expected half a million people to throng the city’s streets.
“The purpose of this demonstration is to pressure the government to resign and have a national government formed under our leadership,” Baburam Bhattarai, second in command of the Maoist party, said.
The Nepal tabloid daily newspaper Janadisha said the demonstration heralded a “people’s revolution.”
“We will continue our protests until the government resigns and Prachanda is declared the new prime minister,” said one demonstrator who identified himself as Dhurba as he hoisted high a Maoist flag bearing a hammer-and-sickle emblem.
A previous Maoist government fell in March last year after the president overruled its decision to sack the head of the army. Since then, Maoists have staged regular protests, though Saturday’s rally was expected to be the biggest.
“This is a very dangerous moment. The Maoists have mobilized their people in an unprecedented scale,” political commentator Prashant Jha said.
If their demands are ignored, Maoist leader Pushpa Kamal Dahal has said they will begin an indefinite nationwide strike from today.
Dahal, who also goes by his nom-de-guerre Prachanda meaning the “fierce one,” waged a decade-long insurgency against the monarchy in which 16,000 people died.
Shops and businesses were closed and residents were stockpiling food in fear that supplies might run short in the event of a national shutdown.
“We hope the Maoists and the political leaders are able to reach some agreement by this evening so we don’t have to face a long strike,” businessman Basant Karki said.
“I’m very worried by the present situation,” he said.
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