Secret tape shows police brutality in Nepal  [ Friday, April 21, 2006 06:43:27 pm IANS ]
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KATHMANDU:
Instances of brutality unleashed by police in Nepal to suppress the popular
uprising against King Gyanendra have been caught on camera by an unidentified
person.
The tape is a powerful
documentation of the indomitable courage by the people in the face of ruthless
suppression by police on Thursday when a teenager was reportedly kicked and
beaten to death during the course of the protest
here.
King Gyanendra
government's enforced an unprecedented 24-hour curfew in the Kathmandu valley on
Thursday in a bid to suppress anti-king stir and private media organisations
were refused curfew passes to cover the
demonstrations.
However,
someone armed with a video camera on Thursday recorded scenes, shot from a
rooftop, of riot police baton lashing and kicking unarmed protesters even after
they were arrested.
The tape
showed policemen in riot gear charging a protester in a yellow shirt even when
he was being hauled into a police van, kicking
him.
In some instances,
policemen, however, tried to shield the detainees from the fury of their
colleagues.
An image showed a
policeman guarding a youth while another policeman tried to wave away with his
baton a third cop who intended to kick
him.
The tape was handed over
to Nepal's popular private television channel Kantipur that has been recording
instances of brutality against unarmed civilians, including women and
children.
Besides the tape,
human rights organisations as well as opposition parties are compiling a list of
security personnel who ordered and encouraged their subordinates to use
excessive force on
demonstrators.
The parties have
vowed the guilty would be punished when democracy is
restored.
Opposition leader
Girija Prasad Koirala has said a commission would be formed to try the ministers
ordering the brutal
suppression.
While condemning
the complicity of the entire royalist cabinet, demonstrators are especially
demanding stern action against Home Minister Kamal Thapa and Information and
Communications Minister Shrish Shumsher
Rana.
The opposition parties
say the king, who heads the cabinet directly as its chairman, is also
accountable.
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