AGENCIES
Nepali youth protesters yesterday set parliament ablaze as Nepali Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli obeyed furious crowds to quit, a day after at least 19 people were killed in one of the crackdowns in country’s history.
Protesters flooded the streets of Kathmandu, some jubilant and celebrating, others setting fire to government buildings and brandishing automatic rifles.
The rapid descent into chaos shocked many, and Nepal’s military warned against “activities that could lead the country into unrest and instability” in the Himalayan nation of 30 million people.
Protests began on Monday with demands that the government lift a ban on social media and tackle corruption, with police trying to crush the rallies -- including using live ammunition, according to Amnesty International.
Yesterday, despite the government rolling back its order and the apps returning online, protests reignited, spreading from the capital to multiple cities nationwide.
“The Nepal government has fallen, the youth have won the protest,” said key protest figure Sudan Gurung, in a post on newly-restored Instagram. “The future is ours.”
The unrest is the worst in decades in the poor Himalayan country, which is wedged between India and China and has struggled with political and economic instability since protests led to the abolition of its monarchy in 2008. Since then, the country has seen 13 governments.
Young Nepalis have for years been frustrated at the lack of jobs, and millions have gone to work in the Middle East, South Korea and Malaysia, mainly on construction sites, and send money home.
A key trigger for the protests, say activists and experts, has been a growing perception that the families of the ruling elite live lives of relative luxury in an otherwise poor nation, exposing deep inequalities.
On Nepali social media, the term “nepo kids” -- a play on nepotism -- was viral in the weeks leading up to Monday’s protests. The term is commonly used to refer to the children of top government officials and ministers.
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