The neighborhoods of Gongabu and Chabahil were tense on Tuesday, the sixth day of the seven-party general strike the whole day, with demonstrators involved in pitched street battles which left scores injured and as many arrested.
According to an Associated Press report, police opened fire on pro-democracy protesters, leaving at least 12 people injured in Gongabu.
Police entered into houses to ferret out demonstrators on the run, resulting in even housewives facing the brunt at places.
Other places which witnessed demonstration by large number of people include Kalanki, Kirtipur, Patan, Bhaktapur, Sanothimi, Chuchhepati and Koteshwor.
Towns like Madhyapur Thimi also saw demonstrations and police intimidation and arrests with over 200 arrested in the capital alone.
The injured were being ferried to hospitals by Red Cross teams, while hospitals are finding it tough to cope with rising numbers of patients.
Demonstrators defied curfew while riot police reinforced by army troops either tried to contain the irate crowd or fired rubber bullets leaving many injured.
While the riot police had to cope with over ten thousand demonstrators in Kirtipur and Gongabu, there were over five thousand people, including housewives who had assembled at Chabahil with local leaders addressing them while police looked on.
The day also saw army and police trucks ferrying riot police and army troops along Ring Road and inner parts of the city. Things were quite explosive at Maitidevi intersection in the morning with protesters burning the effigies of regression defying the curfew.
Nepal Students’ Union activists defied curfew and took out rallies from Maitidevi, Baneshwor, Chabahil, Gongabu, Kirtipur, Mangal Bazaar, Bhaktapur and organized series of effigy burning street protest programs.
Kshitiz Bhandari, central vice-president of NSU central committee was injured in the scuffle with police. In a protest rally organized in Bhaktapur, Dharma Karki and Dipendra Budhathoki were arrested while Ramesh Dangol, Krishna Bista and Kamal Raj Tamang were seriously injured. Himal Shrestha, central member of NSU, students Krishna Aryal, Bhuvan Magar and Om Thapa were injured when cops intervened in the effigy burning program and protest rally in Kirtipur.