Nepal PM's car stoned, 130 protesters held

KATHMANDU, APRIL 16. Over 130 communist party members were today arrested in Nepal after the car of the Prime Minister, Mr. Girija Prasad Koirala, was stoned in a protest to demand he quit, police said.

Around 10,000 activists, mainly from the Opposition Nepal Communist Party-United Marxist and Leninist (NCP-UML), took to the streets amid tight security in Kathmandu to demand Mr. Koirala's resignation.

A stone was lobbed at the Prime Minister's car as it was approaching his office, a Home Ministry official said.

Police then used tear gas to disperse the protesters, witnesses said. Police said they arrested more than 130 NCP-UML leaders, MPs and activists. ``At least 24 lawmakers from our party including the top leaders have been arrested by the police along with dozens of our supporters,'' the NCP-UML politburo member, Mr. Pradeep Nepal, later said.

The Home Ministry official added that ``no ugly incidents took place and the Prime Minister went to his office without being obstructed.''

A police spokesman said: ``The NCP-UML had planned to stop the Prime Minister's car and pull him out in protest of his alleged involvement in the aircraft lease scam.'' Mr. Koirala is under investigation for corruption relating to a controversial aircraft lease deal but has denied any wrongdoing.

The protest was part of a NCP-UML plan to cordon off the streets leading to Mr. Koirala's office until he resigned.

The protest was backed by five other splinter communist groups, including the NCP-Marxist, Leninist and Maoist (NCP-MLM), the Nepal Peasants and Workers' Party (NPWP), the National People's Front (NPF), the United People's Front-Nepal (UPF) and NCP- United.

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