Nepal nabs protesters in showdown at palace

Unidentified Nepalese female protesters shout anti-king slogans as they are arrested by riot police in front of Narayanhity Royal Palace in Kathmandu yesterday. Nepalese riot police rounded up pro-democracy protesters who threatened to storm the royal palace, in a showdown over King Gyanendra's dismissal of the elected government in 2002. PHOTO: AFP

Demonstrators affiliated with opposition parties were taken away in waiting trucks as soon as they neared the tightly guarded perimeter of Narayanhiti Palace in central Kathmandu.

An AFP reporter estimated some 500 demonstrators gave themselves up peacefully as police detained them, even as more protesters poured into the Ratna Park near the palace.

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But the five-party opposition alliance vowed to press on and try later Friday to break into the palace, which was guarded by hundreds of armed troops and barbed-wire roadblocks.

"We will break down the barricades (surrounding the palace) no matter what," chief protest organiser Krishna Gopal Shrestha told AFP.

The royalist government Thursday banned protests indefinitely in the capital, warning that rallies could be infiltrated by Maoist rebels who are seen as a more formidable threat than the opposition parties.

The home ministry warned of "stringent action" against anyone who tried to arrange a gathering of more than five people in the city, save for wedding parties.

Opposition leaders met Friday and decided to carry on with the illegal demonstration as part of their struggle to "restore the people's sovereign rights."

"We have decided to go against the government's prohibition order," Madhav Kumar Nepal, the opposition alliance's consensus prime ministerial candidate, told AFP after the meeting.