Posted by: Ignitor April 20, 2006
UN condemns Nepal rally killings
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UN condemns Nepal rally killings UN human rights experts have condemned Nepal's security forces for "excessive and deadly use of force" after three people died at anti-monarchy rallies. They said there was "indiscriminate firing" as at least 100,000 people defied a curfew to protest against King Gyanendra in the capital, Kathmandu. Doctors say at least 40 others were injured, some seriously. The king imposed direct rule in February 2005, saying the government had failed to defeat Nepal's Maoists. Nepal's government has extended its shoot-on-sight curfew in the capital. The 18-hour curfew - imposed in the city centre to 200 metres beyond its ring road - was scheduled to end at 1415GMT but was extended another seven hours. Thursday's deaths were the first in the capital during two weeks of national strikes and protests by an alliance of seven opposition parties. Sources at the hospital where the dead protesters were taken said police later seized the bodies and took them to a government hospital. Ten people have been killed elsewhere since the strike began. The defence ministry said another 26 people were wounded on Thursday when security forces opened fire on protesters in the town of Gulariya, 500km (310 miles) south-west of Kathmandu. The BBC's Sanjoy Majumder in Kathmandu says the protests are the most significant display of anger with the king since he took office in 2001. The king has made no public statements during the day. The UN in Geneva released a statement by its human rights investigators condemning "the excessive and deadly use of force by members of the security forces against protesters and innocent bystanders". It continued: "The law enforcement agencies have resorted to indiscriminate firing of rubber bullets - even on occasion live ammunition - into crowds, beatings, raids on homes and destruction of property." Continue.... Source : - http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4927556.stm
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