Looks to me like the grondswell of grassroots protest has started although at only a trickle. What amazes me is none of the parties are calling for a Democratic Republic. Save one, People's Front. The king is responding to global pressure. And has said he will restore basic rights within 100 days. - http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/02/18/news/kingdom.html - http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,12297332%255E2703,00.html King Gyanendra said yesterday he had seized power to save Nepalese democracy from communist rebels and corrupt politicians. .... King Gyanendra had assured the US he would start restoring democracy within 100 days. ... The guerrillas have responded by imposing a transport blockade on the Himalayan nation until the king restores fundamental rights to the people and releases his grip on power. - http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=512371 Only eight protesters showed up in the capital, Katmandu, and they were promptly arrested.................On Friday, at least 36 people were arrested in Janakpur Since the king's takeover, the rebels have refrained from major assaults, except for an attack on a jail. - http://www.newkerala.com/news-daily/news/features.php?action=fullnews&id=74156 Moods varied from incredulity to anger and outrage as people discovered in the morning the phones were no longer working. ..... the state machinery organised elaborate rallies .... the protests ended in minutes and, in some cases, the activists took to their heels. ... swooped down on a rights activist while he was returning from a conference in Europe. - http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/5983_1248020,00430005.htm ...."As a result of this sweeping censorship, media organisations have been shut down, journalists have been arrested, the public doesn't know what's going on and close to 800 journalists are out of work," - http://www.newkerala.com/news-daily/news/features.php?action=fullnews&id=74117 Even more affected are the daily labourers who used to earn about 100 rupees a day now they can't even manage 10 - http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_1246403,001300980000.htm a powerful six-member anti-graft commission that would probe and jail corrupt people and confiscate property amassed through abuse of authority and smuggling. - http://www.bangladeshjournal.com/index.php?ID=3470 Nepal Army kills 43 terrorist rebels - http://www.asiamedia.ucla.edu/article.asp?parentid=20866 In the hills, where the Maoists were making significant gains and setting up an entirely separate government, the group had a reputation for honesty, consistency, a sense of humour and astonishing brutality. .... By January of 2005, the Maoists controlled almost the entire area of Nepal outside the Kathmandu Valley. In their village theatre performances they began to co-opt the same heroic and martial rhetoric which had previously been used to legitimate the Shah dynasty......Ironically, the Shah dynasty found itself barricaded inside that same valley into which it had pinned the Newars 250 years before. ....There are some reports of popular protests, but by and large the country is keeping quiet. - http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1024471.cms - http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1024339.cms "I haven't read a newspaper with any information on how the international community has reacted to the emergency in my country or what is the fate of arrested political leaders and human rights activists," said Madhav Pyakhurel, a businessmen. - http://www.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=42088 Nepal's King Gyanendra on Friday said that he took over power in order to save the country's democracy and talked about holding impartial elections.....