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| Saturday, 10 January 2004 |
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Nepali students may seek abolition of monarchy KATHMANDU, Friday (AFP) Nepali students calling for a return to elected rule in the Himalayan kingdom may widen their demands to seek abolition of the monarchy, a Nepali student leader said. "Our neighbours China and India have made tremendous social and economic progress under a republican government so the time has come for us to think seriously about seeking a republican system," said All Nepal National Independent Students Union (ANNISU) president Rajendra Kumar Rai. "The monarchy has always been conspiring to weaken democracy in Nepal," Rai told a student meeting. The ANNISU is one of the largest of seven student groups who have been staging street protests for months against King Gyanendra for firing an elected prime minister in 2002 and naming a loyal monarchist in his place. Rai's statement came as students held fresh protests in the ancient capital of the Himalayan kingdom, demanding restoration of parliament or new elections. Teachers joined in, staging a protest outside the education ministry across from the royal palace. A teachers' federation official said some 900 teachers were rounded up and held in a police recreation club when police cleared the area. Home ministry spokesman Gopendra Bahadur Pandey said some were detained but would not say how many. It was not immediately known whether the teachers had been released. The king dismissed prime minister Sher Bahadur Deuba in October 2002, accusing him of incompetence in tackling an increasingly deadly Maoist revolt that has claimed more than 8,300 lives since 1996 and deepened the nation's economic woes. The leader of the Maoists, Prachanda, called on Nepalis in a statement "to throw into the trash-can the feudal forces trying to impose fascism on Nepal". The Maoists have been fighting since 1996 for the overthrow of the monarchy and the installation of a communist republic. |
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