Nepal\u2019s prime minister KP Oli Sharma has resigned after some of the worst unrest in decades rocked the country this week, sparked by a ban on social media and discontentment at political corruption and nepotism.<\/p>\n
At least 19 people were killed and hundreds were injured on Monday after protests against a ban on 26 prominent social media sites and corruption issues was met with deadly force by police.<\/p>\n
The government decision to roll back the ban on sites such as Facebook, WhatsApp, YouTube and X late on Monday night did nothing to quell the anger among young people, who continued what was dubbed the \u201cGen Z\u201d protests.<\/p>\n
In defiance of curfews, protests continued to erupt across the country on Tuesday and thousands stormed the federal parliament building in the capital Kathmandu and set it on fire. Car tyres were burned in the streets of Kathmandu and riot police were pelted with stones.<\/p>\n
The military were deployed alongside the police, and the country\u2019s political leaders were evacuated to safe locations, as anger at the government swelled on the streets. Kathmandu airport was partially closed.<\/p>\n
As calls for the resignation of Oli grew on Tuesday, his home was set alight, while homes of other prominent ministers and leaders and political offices were also attacked.<\/p>\n
The announcement that Oli would resign amid mounting pressure was met with cheers by protesters who had stormed the parliament building. His home minister had already resigned on Monday night over the killing of protesters.<\/p>\n
Oli, 73, began his fourth term last year after his Communist Party forged a coalition government with the centre-left Nepali Congress. In a resignation statement, Oli said he had resigned in order to \u201cfacilitate a solution to the problem and help resolve it politically\u201d.<\/p>\n
The demonstrations were triggered by the social media ban but also reflected wider frustrations at the government\u2019s perceived lack of action to tackle corruption and boost economic opportunities, while being accused of allowing nepotism.<\/p>\n
By Tuesday, tens thousands of protesters remained on the streets of the capital Kathmandu and other smaller cities once again, protesting against the deadly use of force by police and wider issues of corruption and nepotism among Nepal\u2019s political elite. Police continued to fire tear gas and use batons against protesters.<\/p>\n
Tanuja Pandey, 24, was among those protesting in Kathmandu on Tuesday, calling for Nepal\u2019s political leaders to be held accountable for corruption and violence. \u201cThis is not just a death of 19 youths, it is murder. The government\u2019s hands are stained with blood. The government cannot escape accountability this time,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur prime minister, KP Sharma Oli, is extremely authoritarian and egoistic. As the guardian of the nation, he failed to stand on the side of the nation\u2019s children. Now the entire generation will come after them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Demonstrators gather outside Nepal\u2019s parliament in Kathmandu on Monday. Photograph: Prabin Ranabhat\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n
The government had formed a committee to investigate the violence and would pay relief for the families of the dead and provide free treatment for the injured people, he added.<\/p>\n
Nepal\u2019s government said last month that social media firms would be given seven days to register under new regulations, including to establish a point of contact and designate resident grievance and compliance officers.<\/p>\n
Meta\u2019s Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, Alphabet\u2019s YouTube, China\u2019s Tencent and Snapchat, Pinterest and X all missed the deadline and were subsequently blocked.<\/p>\n
The government\u2019s decision to block social media had caused outrage among Nepal\u2019s youth, many who saw it as an attempt to suppress their criticism of the government.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe social media ban was not the only agenda of the Gen Z movement. The corruption that has permeated every level of the country must end,\u201d said Raksha Bam, 26. \u201cBut instead of stopping that corruption, they shut down the civic space of our generation. That is why Gen Z gathered in one place.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nepal\u2019s prime minister KP Oli Sharma has resigned after some of the worst unrest in decades rocked the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":129900,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":["post-129899","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129899","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=129899"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129899\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/129900"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=129899"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=129899"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=129899"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}