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At least 19 people were reported killed in clashes between Nepalese police and protesters taking part in anti-government demonstrations that were sparked by a ban on leading social media platforms.
Protesters, mostly young people and some wearing school uniforms, carrying the national flag and placards with slogans such as “shut down corruption and not social media” marched through the capital Kathmandu on Monday and some entered the grounds of Nepal’s parliament.
Local media reported at least 19 people died after police opened fire on the protesters and doctors posted videos of injured people being treated.
The Kathmandu demonstration and marches across the country followed government moves last week to block access to social media platforms including Facebook and Instagram that it said had not complied with a mandatory registration process.
Participants in the demonstrations, which some of them described as “Gen Z protests”, said they reflected widespread frustration with national politics and the government of Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli.
Ishika Thapa, a 24-year-old protester in Kathmandu, said: “The social media ban may have been the catalyst for this protest, but that is not the main reason we took to the streets — it is institutionalised corruption.”
“This is the protest by Nepal’s new generation,” she said.
Critics of the government have warned the social media restrictions risk stifling free expression.
The government argued they were in line with a recent Supreme Court decision requiring regulation of social media companies in order to make them accountable and to discourage the use of fake identities.
“The youth in Nepal is angry,” the Kathmandu Post said in an editorial on Sunday, adding young people used social media platforms “to vent pent-up frustrations”.
Demonstrators clash with riot police outside the national parliament © Prabin Ranabhat/AFP/Getty Images
Sujeev Shakya, a Kathmandu-based political economist and author of Unleashing Nepal, said: “This is not about social media. It’s about frustration with the leaders of the three main parties . . . who have been playing musical chairs for the past two decades.”
“There is a real disconnect between the tiny minority of the older generation running the country and most of the frustrated population who are young,” he said.
Nepal ranks 107th out of 180 countries in Transparency International’s latest annual corruption index.
Human rights group Amnesty International denounced what it called the use of live ammunition by security forces. “The use of lethal force against protesters not posing an imminent threat of death or serious harm is a grave violation of international law,” it said.
Meenakshi Ganguly, deputy director of Human Rights Watch’s Asia division, said authorities should “immediately and publicly order security forces to exercise restraint, instead of shooting at protesters”.
Pranaya Rana, Kathmandu-based editor of the newsletter Kalam Weekly, said: “If any of our leaders cared at all about the people, they would see this protest as yet another wake-up call.”