Quick Updates:
State has again turned ruthless. They even took away the bodies of dead protesters from Model Hospital, Bagbazaar. As I write this, half an hour black out is being successfully observed. The authorities have extended the curfew from 8 pm to 3 am. From 3 am there is two hour break.And, again it will be resumed. But, nothing has deterred the people so far. The agitaton has reached every nook and cranny of the country. There are reports of tremendous protests across the country.
Tinkune, 6:30 PM
As I write this, around one hundred youths are chanting anti-king slogans here. One young lady asked me to join the protest even after seeing my journo card. A while ago, I saw people preparing pulthas for black out-cum-torch rally which is slated for 8:30 pm today. This shows the zeal and enthusiasm of people. They have defied curfew and come to the streets in almost all corners of Kathmandu. These young people are dreaming of new Nepal. And, any compromise that doesn’t satisfy their demands will be redundant.
According to reporter Rajaram, three protesters are killed in Kalanki today. This is the first time protesters of ongoing movement have been killed in Kathmandu Valley.
Koteshor, 2:30PM
According to Kantipur reporter Balaram Baniya, around 30 thousand protesters defied curfew in Koteshor. They marched from Madhav Nepal’s house to Koteshor Chowk. They are chanting slogans. In Koteshor, people of all walks of life have participated in the peaceful rally. They already broke three police barriers and are now staging sit-in protest. In Satdobato, two prosteters are seriously injured while other 66 are among the injured. Kantipur reporter Ujir Magar is also injured.
Shantinagar Gate, 2:00pm
Protesters coming from Khari Ko Bot captured the main road for few minutes. They were chased away by security forces.
One lakh protesters are marching from Budhanilkantha to Chabahil.
Kalanki, 1:30 PM
When police opened fire at the peaceful protest in Kalanki, many people were injured. Reporter Rajaram told us that he is handling an injured person. He said there was blood all over his hand while he was speaking to us. Similarly, in Satdobato, clashes occured. Many people are injured. In this kind of scenario, the casualties will not be known immediately. But, what we can say is, people are participating in overwhelming numbers. And, they are ready to sacrifice for a better Nepal.
According to Nepal Magazine reporter Rajaram Gautam who is in Thankot now, around one lakh protesters have gathered in Thankot. They are heading towards Kalanki. They are stretched over three kilometer in the Highway. They gathered from Satungal, Matathirtha, Dahachowk, Balambu, Gurjudhara, Syuchatar villages. Policemen have blocked in Thankot some 5-7 thousand protesters coming from different parts of Dhading.
At 12 today, all the denizens of Kathmandu are requested to go to their rooftops and chant slogans for loktantra (full democracy). In the areas around Ring Road, people are marching to defy the curfew. The processions are taking place mainly in the suburban areas such as Bhaisepati, Satdobato, Chabahil, Kalanki, Gongabu, Kirtipur, Mandikhatar etc.
Hundreds of protesters are marching towards city. But, the core of the city is wearing a deserted look. In Baneshor, there’s a lull; few people are seen requesting security personnel to allow them to cross the road or run errands.
Meanwhile, Indian special envoy Karan Singh and Foreign Secretary Shyam Sharan are busy meeting political leaders. Today morning, they met Surya Bahadur Thapa and Pashupati Shamsher Rana. King is rumored to give speech calling the political parties for dialogue.
United We Blog 
Comments
160 responses to “General Strike Day XV”
Oh man! Three killed and many more critically injured. This is murder. Oh sh*t! The b*stard king.
I am sure that some of us will be happy that the Indian army will finally flood Nepal to stop the Kosi from being bombarded bby teh “Maoists” and hnad over Nepal “loktantra” in a golden platter.
First there was a bloodbath in the Palace, now there is a bloodbath all over the country. Because of WHO?
He’s on his way out. Only thing I wonder is if he might not make it like that Romanian Ceausescu.
Remember how Ceausescu was shot? Like a dog.
Sadly law and order has to be maintained, otherwise this place will turn into another Solomon island.
Even if inevitably Nepal will become a republic, these next few days will be critical. If the army and the police buckle now under pressure and let the crowd rule, this city will turn into one big bonfire.
Get rid of Chairman Gyanendra. Bring all these criminals to justice.
man all these people dying and critically injured. it’s tragic! what will it take for this shah king to leave? the butcher.
With every day he holds on, he’s only solidifying his own fate. I’ll tell you one thing. People want to get their hands on him now. They want to get their hands on him and wring his neck.
Dear All,
We should be proud of Nepali people who have sacrified /sacrifying their lives to bring democratic republic in Nepal. Beware of greedy politicians! There should not be anything less than democratic republic. Hang those leaders who compromise with the king in the name of reconcilation.
Its time for us to celebrate our ‘King’s shady past. Its time for us to remember that he was very likely a heroin pusher.
Oh yes, he killed his family. I think this thug would be up to the task.
I vote to kick this drug dealer/murderer in his face.
“Prachande is a baun, baburam is a baun, girija is a baun, Makune is a baun – and most of the top polit bureau members as well as central committee members in these instituions are baun.” Sadly true. Even more sad, Mahila Gyanu is a fox devouring sheep. Some dogs are still wagging their tails. Disgusting.
Seshyan, it’s not that easy but it’s not that hard as well.
Seshyan Nepal,
We Kirats, both Majh Kirat and Pallo Kirat, are neighbours of Sikkim. We don’t feel shame of that. Are you from among the conquerers from Gorkha?
Dear brothers & sisters,
The nepalese revolution is now first headlines in every french news : TV, radio, newspapers.
Cyp aka Pascal Dai
This goes beyond Nepal: the whole world is watching.
Just as people here use the Philippines as an example of what people power can do, so everyone will soon be using Nepal. But Nepal will be a greater success than the Philippines, because the people have learned from their mistakes.
What happens now in Nepal will shape and inspire people living under corrupt and stagnant regimes everywhere from Honduras to Kenya. Jai Nepal!!
Just happened to watch a local TV channel which kinda potrayed the situation in Nepal as a decisive one. It actually is showing the live footage in a regular interval of time. Seems like everyone is bracing for something. Today is the day. But what is going to happen ? Is Raja G looking for an early exit, is India pressing (still) for the constitutional monarchy ? I don’t want Raja G, but when are we going to learn what was in 12 points agreement between SPA and Maoists. Maoists have shown commitment towards the democracy but will they stick to it it is another thing. And what about Army in post Raja G phase ? Won’t they take matters in their own hands ? Are SPA and Maoists going to fight for the power ? It is scary, and no wonder many people here wish that Raja G would stay. Alas ! it is not going to happen guys.
Cyp,
In Norway, Sweden and Iceland too.
Top news on BBC too. Except the American networks, who’re still with that Scott Mcllellan/Rove thing….
What do you know! Top story on CNN too.
Seshyan Nepal…fcuk u’re law and order…what the fcuk are u talking about u senseless and midnless dog of this killer regime..do u even know what the fcuk r u talking about…i am just out of my mind seeing people like this still saying for maintaining law and order….this is the first time in the history of nepal that even ambulances aren’t allowed….3 people have already died due to live ammunition from u’re great RNA….hundreds are injured and they are not getting treatment as no one is allowed…and u still talk about law and order….in bansthali people were staging a peacefull protest and police were also watching and they had no plans of breaking the barrier or anything when suddenly some vigilantes or the police in civil dress started throwing bricks at the police and the andolankari were trying to run away…the police started batton charging….and that is maintaing law and order????the UNHCR who has signed an accord that they will be free to move anywhere anytime….have been banned….the red cross who haven’t been stopped in places like darfur has been stopped….everywehre there has been wild shootiing and u dogs can’t stop barking about law and order….when the whole country is standing upright for change and some of u are beliving news like maoist are going to blast koshi barrage….some of u are saying this will make nepal like sikkim……..there is a revolution in u’re own backyard and u don’t stop chanting high things of morality and partiotism….shame on u…..once more this quote from JFK will tell u why people are giving up their lives for freedom………….ASK NOT WHAT YOUR COUNTRY HAS GIVEN TO YOU…ASK WHAT YOU HAVE GIVEN TO IT….and u’re still shouting about racism….shame on u……
i am now watching the julus at Chuchhepati. Lots of people are there, marching towards Chabahil. At least 50 thousand are there. And majority are not residents of Chabahil or Bouddha or even VDCs of Kathmandu. they look as if they are from neighbouring Sindhupalchok or some durgam village. I doubt they have come for loktantra, rather it seems they have been forced to go by maoists.
Large protests are being held daily, but where are the 7 party leaders? i have not seen anyone leading or addressing the masses as in 2046.
I want peace and democracy and want the king’s autocratic rule to end. But in the current scenario nepal is heading towards another autocracy, the rule of the maoists.7 parties are going to lose anyway.
Well as i’ve said earlier somewhere and also recieved some criticism(please don’t shoot me again!), we should remember bhupi sherchan’s ‘Bandaina desh dui char sapoot
marera nagaye’. An end to 2 and a half centuries old monarchy brought with such immense bloodshed and murder of course will seek sacrifice. Such casualties during a revolutionary demo must be considered
normal (notice that i haven’t used the word trivial). So, don’t get discouraged or influenced in any ways by such news. Learn to take it easy.Whatever it might be, THE SHOW MUST GO ON
Well, about the rumors of KG getting prepared to get fugitive in his private chopper hovering overhead or something like that, this is not the time for gossips. Rather let’s use ur creativity and give ur ideas how can
we direct the mass swelling up in the ring road towards the palace premises. Please participate in the brainstorming. The current situation is analogous to labor pain during delivery. If the labor pain increases,it may result into a miscarriage. So, it is our duty to play our part for safe delivery of the child – ‘REPUBLIC’ as soon as possible. LEt’s not exaggerate any further but endeavor to reach the ‘mecca’ in no time. Your small idea might contribute to a big difference,
do u have any?
Mr Coke,
Do you know that present government of India has Congress , Communist coaliation? West Bengal Government is communist. Danish govt is leftist. Spanish govt is leftist. Swedish Govenment is supported by lefitist and list goes on. Look at El salvador, Chile and latin America as a whole. Only thing is if you are from Cococola company you will have to pay more taxes if communist come in power otherwise do not afraid of communists if they believe in democracy and come to power by election, that is the precondition of course and in 21st century days of one party dictatorship is over. Do not get confused support the movement for democracy
http://66.116.151.85/
hey guys this is the mirror site of http://www.insn.org which has been banned in nepal…please spread the word!! you can get insn via this site…
Get rid of these blood suckers and Name Narayanhity as Birendra Meseum.
Gita, being a leftist or socialist is a lot different than being a communist, praising Mao.
Geeta Maiya, you are saying communists believe in democracy. This is the stupidest thing I have heard. Its like the sun rises from the west real.
“Geeta Maiya, you are saying communists believe in democracy. This is the stupidest thing I have heard. Its like the sun rises from the west real. ”
Well mister, just look for the ideological defn of communism. It is the best form of democracy if under the control of an apt leader.
Dear all,
All the Newspaper in US are covering our movement in there front page today and there is high international pressure. And now is the cretical time and we need to be very careful…. let this be very clear to all inclduing our leaders….no less than election of Constituent Assembly with international and UN observation. We can’t trust KG and there current state of military..
Again thanks for all the people in ground.
Democrat
New York
http://www.cnn.com/
RADIO NEPAL REPORTING:
THOUSANDS MARCHING TOWARDS ROYAL PALACE
Just heard that Mahila barked at Maharaja of Kashmir: Go away, this country is my hunting reserv. I can do whatever I like with animals of my kingdom.
So the decision remains in our own hands. The buthcher isn’t going to show any mercy.
Well, the french communist shared power in quite a lot of different governments since WW2, even in De Gaulle’s time (he was definitely not a leftist, though), and upto 2002 along with the Socialists (socio-democrats)…
They are real democrats nowadays, and Stalin died in 1953.
P.S : I am not a communist myself…
Yes, the question is always “if”. Sorry friend this is not a hypothetical world.
proud2bnepali…you seem to feel so much for the demonstrators….it’s amazing you are still blogging….why aren’t you in the street yet buddy.
I just got word from the Kathmandu Valley Committee to spread the word of a blackout tonight for 30 minutes
8 pm – 8:30 pm black out,KTM and if anyone reading this, all over nepal.
It is called by the Kathmandu Valley Committee, protesting the brutality that ended 3 peoples lives.
Please spread the word.
Sharmila, Chhatrapati
Whether any country is democratic or not depends not on whether it is under the control of an apt leader, but on whether the people of the country develop a strong democratic culture and social organisation such that they do not tolerate undemocratic practices.
Anyone who has studied the history of the Soviet Union can tell you that what happened under Stalin was not just a question of Stalin imposing his will, but it was also caused by millions of zealous followers who genuinely believed Stalin was the greatest thing on earth. When he died millions turned out at the funeral. The reason he was able to abuse his power so much was not just his own dictatorial practices, but most importantly it was because the country was gripped by a kind of hysteria, in fact there is no denying that even in the worst of times when the worst repressions were happening, most people in the USSR supported him blindly. It was only afterward when the dust cleared that people started to realise what they had allowed to happen.
‘Democracy’ is not something which you just ‘get’, like a pair of shoes. It is a way of life, and you never have pure democracy or pure dictatorship. In every country there is a mix of democracy and bureaucracy. This mix depends on the leaders, but much more importantly it depends on the people.
While the normal dogma is that in socialist countries there was never any democracy, anyone who has studied the history of these countries seriously knows that this is too simple. Democracy was exercised not through choosing parties in elections, but through participation in government by ordinary people and representation of people by officials elected on the basis of competence rather than political party. I am not defending this political system. But up until the 1980s when failed economic reforms started to seriously undermine things, there is no question that the vast majority in most socialist countries (except a few like Poland which felt they were under occupation) supported their system and their representatives. It was not as democratic as it should have been, but it was not entirely undemocratic either.
Whatever economic system a country has, whether it is socialist, capitalist, social democratic, or some mix of many, the question of whether its political system is democratic will depend on the people. You do not automatically get authoritarianism from socialism, or democracy from capitalism. This is just politics as represented by Hollywood and CNN. Real politics is much more complicated than that.
No my dear comrade, the “if” won’t stay forever unless we don’t really desire to get rid of it. Remember, 3-4 hundred years ago people used to say “if only we could fly like those birds” and then the “if” was given a good answer with the invention of airplane.
So, let’s be positive. Communism is the best…ideal system for a country like ours and i’m sure a ‘quasi-utopian’ state can be achieved with cost of nothing but eligible leaders. And i’m sure the people this time won’t mistake as before ‘coz they are much more politically aware than assumed.
Communism has been proved to be a total failure worldwide…it’s an outdated philosphy that only works in theory. We don’t want a system that doesn’t work so stuff it.
It’s true, Kirat, but modern communists can definitively be good advisers in a multiparty government.
We had an excellent ministry of Youth & Sports in France (Marie-Georges Buffet) and she is actually president of the French Communist Party. And that is just one example.
Give me one good example of a good communist state:
See what happened in Cambodia, Vietnam, North Korea? You well know how many people the Khmer Rouge killed, under the leadership of Pol Pot – 30 lakhs over a period of just three years. Prachanda and Baburam are no different.
AKASH KO FAL
AKHA TARI MAR.
Hi Cyp,
I don’t think these guys are talking about the type of Communist parties that exist in W. Europe. We have many Communist parties (biggest being the UML) here that I am okay with too. I prefer them to NC any day. The guys seem to be talking about a communist state like that in Cuba or N. Korea. We all know China in all practicality is not a communist state.
Look we want a democratic system here and if there are communist parties within such a system thats ok. But a communist state? Please spare me that bull.
Analysis based on history and making important decisions acccording to the analysis is the nature of an ordinary, mediocre leader who is easily influenced by illusions.
Well, communism has no doubt failed in most of the nations that have practised the system. But, an ordinary person does not percieve the reasons for failure. And, about the philosophy working only in theory, theoretical does not always mean ‘hypothetical’. Rather every genuine theory is practically possible of manifesting in the real world and idea precedes any action.
Philosophies are never obsolete , they are independent of time.
hello Seshyan Nepal and Kirat
Nepalese Maoists will never harm those bloody indians you know why? Because they are another pattern of slaves of India, who are surviving from indian donations.
Maoists just know how to kill civil Nepalese out there in villages and cut the water supply of poor Nepalese.
Maoists have never spoken anything against india, does anyone knows anything about this.
Hope, what a load of bull. Any political system that relies on it’s workability/success on the good nature of man has always failed. Communism is a philosophy that relies too heavily on the goodness of human nature. Good people like Stalin, Mao and Kim Il Jong.
go to http://www.cnn.com to see streaming video of protests (if you have DSL otherwise it will be very slow to download)…
Better Nepal I would like you to speak about the crimes of this King. Once you do that than critize others. OK?
To call it a total failure is incorrect. Socialism as it has been practised has been a mix of successes and failures. It must be understood not as a quest for utopia, but as an alternative development strategy. The development strategy of socialism was highly successful for the USSR up until the 1970s; living standards skyrocketed, science and technology were on par with the USA–Russia had been by far the poorest country in Europe before socialism. It has been highly successful for Cuba, which enjoys a 99% literacy rate and a higher human development index than most countries in the world, a lower infant mortality rate and a longer life expectancy than pretty much anywhere else in Latin America. If you compare the standard of living in comparable countries like Honduras, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, etc., it is unquestionably higher in Cuba. Cuba is also probably one of the most democratic of all socialist countries so far (in spite of what the western media present).
One of the great failures that has been produced by socialism is the kinds of fanaticism and cult-like behaviour that have arisen several times. I am thinking here of much of what happened under Stalin, Mao, Kim Il Sung, and now even worse Kim Jung Il. This is a complex phenomenon which is extremely dangerous, but it is important to remember it is the exception rather than the rule; socialism has been characterised more by people like Brezhnev than the likes of Stalin.
The story about socialism having ‘collapsed’ is inaccurate. What collapsed in Eastern Europe and the USSR was the reform systems implemented in the late 1970s (in Eastern Europe) and in 1985 (in the USSR), so-called ‘market socialism’. This was an attempt to cope with the growing inefficiencies of the system, which, while stable, had failed to evolve with the development of the countries. Market socialism however was unstable, led to economic ruin and the dissolution of the socialist camp. See Janos Kornai’s book ‘The Socialist System’.
Of course it is madness to want to replicate what has gone before. But it is also blind ignorance to call it a total failure. Socialism brought development and unprecedented standards of living to millions around the world. Capitalism has brought prosperity to millions and suffering to millions more. The question is not ‘which system is perfect’ because no system ever made by human beings is perfect. The question is ‘which approach is best for the particular problem at hand’. When you claim that socialism is a total failure, you are in effect claiming that co-operatives are a failure, state run enterprises are a failure, economic decision making through a political process is a failure. I am sorry but the historical record disagrees with this. All of these things have had both great successes and great failures, and the same is true of capitalism.
to BetterNepal:
hey pal, think carefully before u write especially when u accuse somebody. It is maoists who are more anti-indians compared to others. IT was them who openly condemned the imperialistic policy of India. They had also sworn to wage guerilla warfare against indian army if the latter tries to cause any disturbance in Nepal’s soveregnty. Watch out, even after the restoration of democracy, one who will carry somewhat rigid foregn policy(esp. against india) will be the Maoists unlike the other parties.
King will speak soon to end crisis: Karan Singh
King Gyanendra of Nepal will soon make an announcement to defuse the crisis in the country, said Indian Prime Minister’s special representative Karan Singh on Thursday. The ball is in the king’s court now, Singh said in Delhi after returning from Kathmandu. Three persons died when police in choppers opened fire on a gatering near Kathmandu.
Better Nepal; Don’t delude yourself. Do you know where Baburam and Prachanda are hiding – New Delhi, my friend, New Delhi.