Anti-Govt. rallies mark national Unity Day in Nepal
Kathmandu, Jan. 11 (PTI): Nepal witnessed country-wide demonstrations against the hike in petroleum prices today as various student and youth organisations staged protests and road blockades in Kathmandu, Morang, Sunsari and Siraha districts.
The anti-government demonstrations were held at a time when Nepal was observing the National Unity Day and the 283rd birth anniversary of Prithvi Narayan Shah the Great, who unified small States into the Kingdom of Nepal two-and-a-half centuries ago.
The agitators burnt motor tyres, blocked vehicles and shut down markets in various parts of the Kingdom, including Morang and Sunsari districts in East Nepal.
In Kathmandu, riot police and students clashed injuring a few student activists. The agitators also damaged two government vehicles in the capital and blocked major roads for about an hour.
More than a dozen student leaders, including Keshav Singh, President of Nepal Students Union, affiliated to the Nepali Congress, were arrested in the capital this morning.
The All-Nepal National Free Students' Union, belonging to one of the coalition partners, Communist Party of Nepal-UML, also plans to organise anti-government rallies beginning tomorrow to oppose the price hike by their own party leader, Minister for Supply and Commerce Ishwor Pokhrel.
Pokhrel had said that the increase was necessary to save the state-run Nepal Oil Corporation from going bankrupt.
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