Nepal police fire teargas at charter protesters

KATHMANDU: Nepalese police on Saturday fired teargas and water cannon at thousands of opposition supporters who converged on the capital to protest controversial plans to vote on a disputed new national constitution.
As anger mounts over the planned vote, protesters threw bricks and stones in brief clashes with security forces who responded with about 20 rounds of teargas, police and an AFP reporter on the scene said.
“We estimate that around 35,000 people are participating in today’s rally,” Kathmandu police spokesman Dinesh Acharya told AFP, while another officer said 4,000 police were lining the route through Kathmandu.
Years of squabbling have seen Nepal’s politicians miss a series of deadlines to draft the charter which was designed to draw a line under a decade of civil war.
The government’s push last month to hold a vote, rather than seek agreement on disputed terms of the constitution, sparked protests including inside parliament itself, deepening discord between ruling parties and the opposition led by former Maoist rebels.
On Saturday, flag-waving demonstrators, riding motorcycles and travelling on foot, packed Kathmandu’s narrow streets and shouted slogans calling for a constitution based on consensus.
An AFP reporter said the situation briefly turned violent when protesters tried to enter a restricted area near parliament and police moved in to disperse them.
Gopal KC, a doctor at Kathmandu’s Civil Service Hospital, said “24 people have been admitted here, all with minor injuries”. Police spokesman Acharya told AFP that four officers were also wounded after protestors threw stones at them.
As thousands poured into an open meeting ground in the heart of Kathmandu, Maoist chief Pushpa Kamal Dahal, known better as Prachanda, addressed cheering supporters and said, “today’s demonstration clearly shows how powerful we are”.