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| Sunday, 18 September 2005 |
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Press freedom protest in Nepal : Police arrest nearly 80 journalists Nepalese police arrested Friday nearly 250 people, including 78 journalists, who were staging a protest calling for restoration of press freedoms curbed when King Gyanendra seized power. The protest in Kathmandu was part of a wave of pro-democracy demonstrations that have convulsed the capital for the past two weeks. The journalists and 167 other people, many of them political activists, were arrested because they demonstrated in a central area of Kathmandu where protests have been banned since Gyanendra took power in February, police said. Witnesses said police used batons and tear gas to break up the protest. Although a number of journalists have been arrested in the wake of the king's takeover, this marked the largest single roundup. The demonstrators were warned to disperse but when they refused "we had to arrest them under the local administration act," a police statement issued late Friday said. The Federation of Nepalese Journalists said those arrested included the group's chairman, Buishnu Nishthuri, and Rishi Dhamala, president of the Reporters Club. "Over a dozen journalists were injured in the police baton charge," federation general secretary Mahendra Bista told AFP. During the demonstration, protesters hurled stones at police. An AFP photographer, Devendra Man Singh, was hurt by a rock and needed stitches. Thousands of people have been turning out for daily protests organised by an alliance of seven political parties demanding a return to democracy in the impoverished Himalayan kingdom. The nation has been in turmoil since Gyanendra seized absolute power in February, a move he said was needed to end a deadly Maoist revolt aimed at overthrowing the monarchy that has claimed over 12,000 lives since 1996. It was not clear when the protesters might be released although other demonstrators who have been arrested usually are freed the same night. |
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