Former Nepal king and police supporters seek to restore monarchy during protests
Kathmandu, Nepal (AP) – Supporters of the former Nepal king clashed with police at a rally in the capital on Friday to demand the restoration of the monarchy abolished by the Himalayan state.
The government imposed a curfew in areas where conflict occurred in Kathmandu after police used tear gas, batons and water canons on protesters.
Several protesters and police were injured in the clashes, but no serious casualties. Protesters destroyed nearby buildings and at least set fire to the fire.
Thousands of supporters of former King Gyanendra Shah gathered on the eastern edge of Kathmandu to attend a rally composed of different groups supporting former Monk.
The party on the ground open near the airport was planned as a peaceful rally, but trouble began after some protesters wore white pickups driving police barricades and collided with several officers. Police shot tear gas shells and sprayed the crowd with water supply Canon.
On the other side of the capital, thousands of people supporting the current republic system gathered at the anti-rallies on Friday. The rally participants came from the Maoist opposition party, which carried out an armed insurgency between 1996 and 2006 to expel the monarchy.
“The monarchy cannot come back. Even something that has been dead and created can come back to life, which is ridiculous,” said Maoist supporter Ram Kumar Shrestha.
In recent months, with the resumption of Kings and Hinduism as a national religion, the demand for Shah has grown. Royalist groups accused the country’s main political parties of corruption and governance failure and said people were frustrated by politicians.
“We need the country to return to the monarchy and the king to come back because the parties and institutions have failed in the country,” said Rajendra Bahadur Khati, one of the participants at the rally. “When the source is contaminated, the entire system becomes rotten.”
Large-scale street protests in 2006 forced Gyanendra to abandon his dictatorship, and two years later the parliament voted to abolish the monarchy.
Gyanendra left Royal Palace to live as a civilian, and he did not comment on the call to return the monarchy. Despite the growing support, the former king had little chance to return to power immediately.
