About 1,000 Madhesis and demonstrators from other minority groups seeking more rights and representation in Nepal’s new Constitution scuffled with police today, even as Prime Minister KP Oli warned that the Government will not keep quiet if the protests become violent.
Protesters chanting anti-government slogans picketed near the Prime Minister’s office and tried to break a police barricade, triggering a clash with the police on the third day of their protest.
Riot police used batons to disperse demonstrators. During the protest, three demonstrators and two pedestrians were injured.
Two students were injured as the members of the agitating groups beat them up, accusing them of being government’s vigilantes.
The protesters chanted slogans like ‘Down with incompetent Government’, ‘Prime Minister KP Oli leave the country’, ‘We want our demands to be fulfilled’ and ‘Ensure our federal and ethnic rights’.
The major demands of Madhesis, mostly of Indian-origin, include re-demarcation of the seven province model of federal structure, inclusiveness and proportionate representation of marginalised groups and ethnic minorities including the Madhesis, indigenous groups and dalits in all the state bodies.
Meanwhile, speaking at a separate programme to pay tribute to CPN-UMl’s late leader Madan Bhandari, Prime Minister Oli asked the agitating groups to engage themselves in reconstruction of earthquake damaged structures across the country instead of taking to streets and creating traffic jams in the busy streets of the capital.