Police detain 250 teachers in Nepal over curfew

NEPAL: Security forces Wednesday detained at least 250 protesting teachers for defying curfew orders in a popular tourist town in western Nepal, a witness said.

Police confirmed that there had been arrests but declined to give numbers.

Nepal has been wracked by two weeks of anti-royal protests that have seen six demonstrators killed and hundreds detained.

"Various professional organizations and parties took out rallies defying curfew orders (from) early Wednesday morning and at least 250 college lecturers and teachers have been rounded up by police," said journalist Dinesh Regmi in Pokhara.

The Himalayan gateway town 200 kilometres west of the capital has seen repeated major protests as part of the pro-democracy movement.

Pokhara authorities announced a shoot-on-sight curfew after thousands protested and dozens were injured during clashes on Tuesday. But hundreds more came out on the streets Wednesday, witnesses said.

King Gyanendra was facing increased pressure with the arrival of two Indian envoys sent to relay India's deep concern at the current crisis.

Earlier a woman who was hit on the face by a tear gas shell has become the sixth person to die in Nepal's two-week long protest campaign against King Gyanendra, officials said on Wednesday.

The woman, who was injured on Tuesday during a protest in the town of Nepalgunj, 500 km (300 miles) west of Kathmandu, died while being taken to a hospital in the Indian city of Lucknow, they said.

The United States and India, Nepal's giant neighbour, have both called repeatedly for the restoration of democracy.

King Gyanendra came under further pressure on Tuesday when three top human rights groups called for international sanctions against the monarch and top Nepali officials, accusing them of being "impervious to the suffering" of the Nepalese people.

"He (the king) and his officials have been responsible for serious human rights violations, including the arbitrary arrest and detention of thousands of critics, torture and ill-treatment of detainees ...," Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the International Commission of Jurists said in a statement. Kathmandu, Wednesday, AFP, Reuters