March 29-
Two persons, including a TV cameraman, were killed and 110 others injured in the clashes between security personnel and pro-monarchy protesters. The Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) has fined former king Gyanendra Shah for various offenses, including vandalism and littering, related to a demonstration in the Tinkune area on Friday.
On Saturday, eight municipal police personnel from the KMC issued eight separate letters in the name of Gyanendra Shah, Nirmal Niwas imposing a total fine of Rs 793,000.
Former King Gyanendra Shah was on Saturday issued a letter demanding fine by Kathmandu’s civic body following the damage caused to public property and environment during the pro-monarchy protests in parts of the Nepalese capital a day before.
Parts of Kathmandu on Friday witnessed a tense situation after pro-monarchy protesters pelted stones, attacked the office of a political party, set fire to vehicles and looted shops in the Tinkune-Baneshwor area of Kathmandu.
Two persons, including a TV cameraman, were killed and 110 others injured in the clashes between the security personnel and the pro-monarchy protesters.
The demonstration in the Tinkune area on Friday was called by Durga Prasai advocating for restoration of monarchy. On Thursday, Prasai had visited Nirmal Niwas to meet the former king, after which he was appointed as a “commander” for the monarchy restoration movement.
Royalist demonstrators repeatedly attempted to break through police cordons. Later, Prasai drove his vehicle through the police line, breaking into a restricted area. Following this, as demonstrators along with Prasai, breached the police cordon, the police fired tear gas to disperse them. Subsequently, the demonstrators vandalized and set private homes on fire.
The demonstrators also pelted stones at a fire truck dispatched by Kathmandu Metropolis to extinguish the fire. The KMC decided to impose a fine on former king Gyanendra Shah for the attacks on various municipal structures, the fire truck, and firefighters during the protest.
On Saturday, a KMC team collected details of the damage in the Tinkune-Koteshwore-Jadibuti area. Based on this assessment, it was decided that the costs of the damage and cleanup would also be recovered from former king Gyanendra Shah.
Two people died in the Tinkune area on Friday during the protest. Demonstrators set fire to a party office, private homes, a supermarket, a media house, a herbal processing center, and a government vehicle.
The demonstration called by Prasai was supported by the ‘Joint People’s Movement Committee for Restoration of Monarchy’ led by Nava Raj Subedi as well as RPP and RPP-Nepal.
Following Friday’s events, Prasai has gone absconding. Police arrested Senior Vice-chairman of RPP and Member Secretary of the ‘Joint People’s Movement Committee for the Restoration of Monarchy Rabindra Mishra’ and General Secretary of Dhawal Shumsher Rana on Friday evening after they attended the protest.
On February 25, when former King Gyanendra Shah arrived in Kathmandu from Pokhara, RPP was fined Rs 100,000 for littering and damaging municipal structures during a welcome rally and demonstration from Tribhuvan International Airport. RPP lawmaker Gyanendra Shahi paid the fine at the KMC office. Earlier, the KMC had also fined the CPN-UML Rs 100,000 for holding an event at Durbar Marg.
Durga Prasai, who was the convener of Friday’s agitation, had met Gyanendra Shah a day before and received instructions to stage the agitation demanding reinstatement of monarchy and a Hindu state.
The pro-monarchists have become active since democracy day in February when Gyanendra Shah said, “Time has come for us to assume responsibility to protect the country and bring about national unity.”
The pro-monarchists were organising rallies in Kathmandu and other parts of the country, demanding the reinstatement of the 240-year-old monarchy, abolished in 2008.
