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| Kathmandu, Thursday April 10, 2003 Chaitra 27, 2059. |
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Police fire
tears gas shells; dozens injured
Students protest erupts in violence
By Kiran Chapagain
& Suvecha Pant
KATHMANDU, April 9 :
Students cutting across major cities all over the country today launched a string of angry
demonstrations, in protest against the killing of Devi Ram Poudel, a student who succumbed
to police bullets, during a demonstration against the petro price hike, in Butwal on
Tuesday.
The angry
demonstrations and sporadic incidents of violence in Kathmandu injured at least a dozen
students and disrupted public transportation for many hours. In Butwal, the markets
remained close and situation was tense throughout the day. In Biratnagar also a large
group of students came out on the streets and flayed the killing of the student.
One of the worst
incidents took place in Trichandra College in Kathmandu today. The police who were
involved in a stone battle with the students the whole day and fired tear gas cells at
them, finally broke into the campus buildings and beat up the students.
The students were
dragged out from the two buildings onto the road and thrashed them with batons. The floors
of the campus building were littered with blood after the police intervention.
Jahar Singh Bohara, an
eyewitness, claimed that the police also threw down at least three students from the
two-storied campus building. Over a dozen students were reportedly injured in the
skirmish. Bohara himself sustained a forehead injury.
The agitated students,
on the other hand, attacked the office of the vice-chancellor of Tribhuvan University and
the office of Nepal Electricity Authority, public buses, and broke off footpath railings.
Earlier in the morning,
students from various colleges held massive rallies. They finally converged at the
Trichandra College premises for a mass meeting to protest Tuesday’s killing.
Student leaders of all
seven student unions, speaking on the occasion, expressed their determination to organise
more demonstrations to protest the killing of their "martyr friend".
As the students hit the
streets in various places in the capital, traffic police had to suspend various routes in
the city.
A joint meeting of the
major student organisations held here today evening flayed the police atrocities and
demanded compensation to the family of Poudel. It also demanded free treatment to the
students injured in today’s confrontation, according to Gagan Thapa, general
secretary of Nepal Students’ Union. .
He also informed that
the students’ unions will meet tomorrow to chart out their future protest programmes.
Meanwhile, major
political parties including CPN-UML and Nepali Congress have denounced the
"atrocities" of the police and demanded compensation for the family of the
deceased student.
However, the
demonstration was not only about the petroleum price hike or in protest against Poudel’s
killing. "It is not just the hike in petroleum products we are protesting
against," said Binod Adhikary, a BA third year student of Ratna Rajya College.
"We are sick and tired of being pushed around by the government."
"The government
cannot just hike prices and enforce laws into our lives, we also have a say," said
Adhikary. "Instead of working to ease the difficulty of the commoners, the government
has increased the price of petroleum, affecting the lives of millions."
The students also
expressed frustrations about the current political stalemate.
"It’s been
weeks since the cease-fire and day-by-day the hopes for talks are diminishing. We just
want change for better," he added.
Sikha Sivakoti, a BBS
second year student of Shankar Dev Campus said, " We are frustrated with the thought
of our future," adding, "if we do not protest now, we cannot force the regime
for change."
Thousands of schools
were also affected due to the demonstrations and many of them situated across the valley
closed early in fear.
Commuters also faced
much difficulty today as public vehicles stayed off the streets in many routes. Ratna
Park, Sundhara and many areas around the heart of the city were blocked, leaving people
with no choice but to walk or wait long hours for a vehicle.
"I have been
waiting for more than two hours for a tempo," said Shanti Thapa, on her way home from
office. "My house is in Kalanki, I don’t know how I will get there."
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