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Nepal protesters defy curfew Thousands of protesters defied a daytime curfew in the Nepali capital on Sunday, chanting slogans against the king on the 18th consecutive day of protests. At least three people were injured when police opened fire on one group of protesters in an eastern suburb of Kathmandu, witnesses said, although they were not sure if live rounds or rubber bullets were used. King Gyanendra's offer on Friday to hand over power
to an alliance of seven political parties has failed to quell the demonstrations
against his rule, if anything emboldening the protesters still further. "Police and soldiers, you are our brothers -- shoot Gyanendra," one group chanted at rows of padded and helmeted riot police wielding sticks and shields. Behind the police, soldiers in green camouflage uniforms gripped submachine guns and automatic rifles, with orders to shoot to kill if the crowd broke through the police ranks and barbed wire barricade. "We will burn the crown and we will run the country," the crowds chanted. "Gyanendra, thief, leave the country." Sunday's protests were largely confined to the ring road surrounding the capital. Although the road lies within the curfew zone, large stretches are in the hands of the protesters, with burning logs and tyres blocking access to security forces. In the north of the city, a group of protesters carried a wooden stretcher with an effigy of a dead Gyanendra, ostensibly on its way to cremation. Others hung a rat from electricity wires, a banner hanging from its body saying "Gyanendra is dead, God is great". In a country where many people traditionally revered the monarch as a Hindu god, the sentiments break a centuries-old taboo. PARTIES WARY OF KING On Saturday more than 100,000 people broke into the city centre from the outskirts and police opened fire in at least two places to beat them back. Just a kilometre (half a mile) from the palace, they repeatedly fired teargas at protesters. At least 150 people were wounded in the police action and a stampede that broke out when the marchers were dispersed, witnesses and political activists said. Sunday's demonstrations seemed more peaceful, with the crowd mostly content to chant slogans and the police and army content to watch, but determined to block their way into the city centre. The seven-party alliance which has led the protests has rejected Gyanendra's offer to hand over executive power to a prime minister of their choosing. The parties do not trust the king, and want the constitution to be changed to curb his powers. That is also a key demand of Maoist rebels who control much of the countryside and entered a loose alliance with the parties last year against the king. "The king is looking for a safe landing, but what he has offered is not enough," said Naresh Thapa, a 30-year-old driver wearing a blue baseball cap. Using a special constitutional provision, the king sacked the government and took full powers in February 2005, vowing to crush a decade-long Maoist revolt in which more than 13,000 people have died. Given the mood on the streets the parties are wary of being seen to compromise with the monarch. They want parliament, dissolved in 2002, to be revived and the army -- which is loyal to the king -- put under its control. The invisible hand of the Maoists may also be fuelling and radicalising the protests, analysts say. The seven-party alliance has been agitating since April 6 to force Gyanendra to restore multi-party democracy. At least 12 people have been killed and hundreds wounded in police action against protesters since then. The impoverished kingdom has been virtually at a standstill with the movement of goods and people blocked by a general strike and crippling street protests across the nation. (Additional reporting by Raju Gopalakrishnan) ---------------------------------------------------
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