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Nepal Protests to Flout King`s Curfew

Pro-democracy protestors in Nepal vowed to defy a new, day-long curfew in Kathmandu on Sunday and hold fresh protests against King Gyanendra`s rule. The royalist government declared a 13-hour curfew in the capital, Kathmandu, on Sunday. According to local sources, an hour before the curfew began, about a dozen men carrying political party flags gathered at a main street in an upmarket Kathmandu residential area, burned tires on the road and shouted "Long Live Democratic Republic".

On Saturday, soldiers shot dead a protester at a rally in the west of the Himalayan kingdom, enraging activists who have called a four-day anti-monarchy strike that started on Thursday. Nepal`s seven main political parties, which have been leading the pro-democracy campaign, had planed a big demonstration against the king in the capital on Saturday but tough security meant that only a handful of small protests could be held in brief defiance of a curfew.

"The people will not be cowed down like this. It shows the regime is already defeated," said Arjun Narsingh, a leader of the Nepali Congress, the largest political party taking part in protests. "We will again try to march toward the city center and protest. We will continue until we succeed. Our protests will not stop."