International

Nepali police crush protest

BRAVING THE REPRESSION: Surrounded by policemen this human rights activist protests against King Gyanendra's emergency rule in Kathmandu on Thursday. — AP

KATHMANDU, FEB. 10. P olice today smothered the first political protest against King Gyanendra's assumption of power and suspension of civil liberties, arresting a handful of demonstrators.

At least a dozen people were thrown into vans by the police in riot gear as they turned up in ones and twos at a heavily guarded traffic intersection here. They were quickly driven away, said witnesses and the Human Rights and Peace Society, which organised the protest.

"Give our rights back! Democracy is in our soul," shouted one woman, before she was bundled off. Another protester waved a black cloth as a group of policemen lifted him into a blue wire-meshed van. "Withdraw the royal proclamation," shouted another.

Maoist attacks

Elsewhere in the troubled Hindu kingdom, a group of around 300 Maoist rebels, armed with crude bombs and automatic weapons, launched simultaneous attacks on a jail, a branch of Nepal's central bank and two police stations in the remote western town of Dhangadi early today.

The Maoists broke open the gates and stormed the jail after a 90-minute gunfight with policemen and freed about 150 prisoners, including rebels, an army statement said, in the first big strike since King Gyanendra's action.

Five policemen were killed in the jail attack in Dhangadi, 660 km from Kathmandu. The area is a Maoist stronghold.

A body thought to be of a rebel was found outside the jail. "We believe more rebels might have died in the battle," said an army officer. The Maoists usually take away bodies of fallen comrades from the battlefield.

In Kathmandu, political activists hoped the protest in the centre of the capital would help ignite a nationwide campaign against the monarch's decision last week to sack the government, detain political leaders and suspend civil rights. — Reuters

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