Security forces on Thursday fired live ammunition and used rubber bullets and tear gas on protesters in the Kalanki area, in the west of Kathmandu.

An eyewitness at the scene told the BBC he had seen the body of a youth being dragged through the street, apparently lifeless after being shot in the head.

Other injured protesters were lying in the street with no ambulances able to attend to them, the BBC's Charles Haviland reports.

Large crowds had tried to break through into the curfew area.

The BBC's Sanjoy Majumder watched as more than 2,000 people gathered in the Chabail area chanting "We want democracy".

Raju Lama, one of the protesters, said: "We want freedom. We do not want the king any more."

The government has accused Maoist rebels of infiltrating the rallies to sow violence.
In addition to the curfew, the government has doubled the length of detention orders on a number of imprisoned human rights campaigners and opposition politicians.

Minendra Rijal of the opposition Nepali Congress party told the BBC that the will of the people was for King Gyanendra to restore democracy.

"King Gyanendra has to be ready to hand over power to the people's representatives," he said.
"Our basic aim is to hold elections to the constituent assembly. Anything else is not acceptable to the people of Nepal."

International condemnation of the crackdown has been growing.

"Ultimately we have to have a political solution," said Ian Martin, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in Nepal.

"The demonstrators are not going to give up and the last thing we want to see is an increased use of force by the security forces."

Posted on: Apr 20, 2006

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