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“In view of the adverse situation in the country, I have resigned effective today to facilitate the solution to the problem and to help resolve it politically in accordance with the constitution,” Oli said in his resignation letter to President Ramchandra Paudel.

An aide to Paudel told Reuters the president had begun the process of finding a new premier, but also summoned protest leaders for talks.

Jubilant youths entered the parliament complex on hearing the PM’s resignation news, waving their hands in the air and shouting slogans as smoke rose from sections of the building.

“We won,” one protester wrote in huge orange letters on the wall of the parliament building.

Although the protesters were still on the streets of the city, there was no more violence as security forces kept their distance.

The Nepali Army has issued a public appeal to citizens protesting to remain calm and exercise restraint, The Himilayan Times reported.

“Considering the current situation, it is our shared responsibility to prevent further escalation, preserve social harmony, and maintain national unity. The Nepali Army calls upon all youth and citizens to act with restraint,” the appeal stated.

Oli, 73, was sworn in for his fourth term in July last year as Nepal’s 14th prime minister since 2008. Two of his cabinet colleagues had resigned on “moral grounds” late on Monday.

Early in the day, Oli had called a meeting of all parties, saying violence was not in the interest of the nation and “we have to resort to peaceful dialogue to find solutions to any problem”. However, protesters continued gathering in front of parliament and elsewhere in Kathmandu, defying an indefinite curfew.

They set fire to tyres on some roads, threw stones at police in riot gear and chased them through narrow streets.

Witnesses also said protesters were setting fire to the homes of some politicians in Kathmandu, and local media reported that some ministers had been plucked to safety by military helicopters.

The Singha Durbar area, which houses the Prime Minister’s Office and other ministries as well as Parliament House, and Oli’s private residence were also set on fire, they said.

Footage circulating on social media showed former prime minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and his wife Arzu Rana, foreign minister under Oli, and Finance Minister Bishnu Paudel being attacked by protesters.

The demonstrators broke into the residence of Deuba in Budanilkantha, Kathmandu. Footage shows the ex-PM bleeding from his face in the aftermath of the attack. Before the authorities arrived at the scene to rescue Deuba and Arzu, their residence was desecrated.

Bishnu Paudel was chased through Kathmandu streets with people running behind him. A young protester, from the opposite direction, jumps and kicks the minister down, who is thrown off balance and crashes into a red wall.

Reuters could not immediately verify the information.

President Paudel, whose offices were also set on fire by mobs, pleaded for “all parties to exercise restraint, to not allow further damage”.

The call was echoed by neighbouring India, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying that the “stability, peace and prosperity of Nepal are of utmost importance to us”.

The United Nations rights chief, Volker Turk, said he was “appalled” by the violence and called for talks.

Kathmandu airport, Nepal’s main international gateway, was closed because of smoke from fires set by protesters, the Civil Aviation Authority said.

Meanwhile, the Bangladesh embassy in Nepal yesterday strongly advised Bangladeshi nationals currently living or visiting Nepal to stay at their respective places.

“All Bangladeshi nationals seeking to travel to Nepal are also advised not to fly to Nepal owing to prevailing security situations,” said the Bangladesh embassy in Nepal in a statement yesterday.

There are nearly 300 Bangladeshis, mostly tourists, currently in Nepal. Some of them are businessmen or employees of international aid agencies.

The embassy in a statement said, a 51-member delegation from the Defence Services Command and Staff College (DSCSC), Mirpur, who went to Nepal as part of their overseas study tour, is staying in Kathmandu. They are scheduled to fly to Dhaka on September 12.

India said it has strengthened security along the border with Nepal in light of the mass anticorruption protests.

Organisers of the protests, which spread to other cities, have called them “demonstrations by Gen Z”, driven by young people’s widespread frustration with a perceived lack of action to tackle corruption and boost economic opportunities.

“The protest was intended, first and foremost, against the rampant corruption in government,” a protester said in an email to Reuters, signing off as ‘A concerned Nepali citizen’.

Young Nepalis had been posting on social media about the “luxurious lives of the families and children of corrupt politicians and civil servants” until the government clamped down on the platforms, the email said.

People aged 15-40 make up nearly 43 percent of the population, according to government statistics -- while unemployment hovers around 10 percent and GDP per capita is just $1,447, according to the World Bank.

What happens next is unclear.

“In the context of a revolution, constitutional or legal provisions do not apply right now,” constitutional lawyer Dipendra Jha told AFP, saying that the “normal” process would have been for the president to call on the next leader in parliament to gather a majority.

“The protesters, leaders who are trusted by them and the army should come together to pave the way for a caretaker government,” Jha added.

Crisis Group analyst Ashish Pradhan echoed that, saying a “transitional arrangement will now need to be charted out swiftly and include figures who still retain credibility with Nepalis, especially the country’s youth”.

Balendra Shah, the 35-year-old engineer-turned-rapper who was elected as Kathmandu’s mayor in 2022, and who is seen as a popular figure in the transition ahead, used Facebook to call on people to “be restrained”.

“We had made it clear: this is purely a Gen Z movement,” Shah wrote after Oli’s resignation, referring to young people aged largely in their 20s.

“Your generation must take the lead in running the country. Be ready!”

Another 26-year-old protester said, “This frustration has been building for over two decades, fuelled by corruption. What you see now is just a spark ignited by social media.”