At least 12 people were killed, three in police firing, and many injured in clashes between police and the pro-democracy demonstrators in different parts of Nepal on the first day of the countrywide movement launched by the banned Nepali Congress and the United Left Front on Sunday.
A pro-establishment member of the Rashtriya Panchayat and former minister said that at least six people, including a sub-inspector and two policemen were killed in clashes in Narayanghat in central Chitwan district.
The number of injured due to police firing, lathi charge and stone throwing could not be immediately ascertained.
He said one policeman was killed in Hetauda Makwanpur district also in central Nepal where police fired at least 19 rounds to disperse the peaceful precisionists.
While official sources confirmed the cases of firing in Narayanghat and Hetauda, no Official causality figure was available till late Sunday evening.
In Kathmandu town, police burst tear gas shells and baton charged the protestors repeatedly.
Five persons were killed and six others injured when police opened fire at a group of protestors in Jadukuha.
While political sources claimed that the firing was unprovoked and the group was unarmed, the official media claimed that police “fired in self-defense at a crowd of antinational elements who attacked a police station and refused to disperse.
With Tuesday’s incident the unofficial toll in police public clashes and firings has risen to 35. The Nepalese radio, however, maintained that only 10 people had died in incidents so far.
Article extracted from this publication >> March 2, 1990
