Kathmandu - Hundreds of Maoist supporters clashed with
police in the Nepalese capital Kathmandu Wednesday, protesting the
president's decision to reinstate a sacked army chief.
The renewed protests came as political parties intensified their
efforts to form a new government following the collapse of the
Maoist-led coalition over the affair.
'We are talking with other political parties and want to form a
government of national consensus,' said Jhalanath Khanal, the
chairman of Communist Party of Nepal - Unified Marxist Leninists.
President Ram Baran Yadav has given the parties until Saturday to
form a new government of national consensus.
Police clashed with the around 800 Maoist supporters in central
Kathmandu after they tried to vandalise a statue of a former king,
firing teargas at the protestors.
'The stone-throwing Maoist demonstrators vandalised vehicles and
attacked the statue when the police took action,' Kathmandu district
police office said. 'We acted to protect public property.'
At least two demonstrators and four officers were injured in the
clashes, the police said.
Maoist lawmakers also disrupted a parliamentary session for the
second day Wednesday, demanding an apology from Yadav for reinstating
army chief Rukmangat Katuwal hours after he was sacked by the
Maoists, accusing the president of having violated the constitution.
They also vowed to step up protests in parliament and on the streets.
The political crisis that erupted over the government's attempts
to remove Katuwal is threatening to derail the country's peace
process following a 2006 peace deal that ended years of civil war in
the Himalayan nation.
This week, the Maoists attempted to replace Katuwal with his
second-in-command, General Kul Bahadur Khadka, despite strong
opposition from coalition partners.
Relations between the army and the Maoist-led government have been
strained since the army recruited nearly 3,000 new soldiers this year
while the Maoists were seeking to integrate nearly 19,000 of their
former guerrilla fighters into the national army, as stipulated by
the UN-monitored peace accord.
Defence Minister Ram Bahadur Thapa, who is a senior Maoist
politician, tried to block the recruitment, but the army went ahead
after the Supreme Court ruled it was legal.
The Maoists emerged as the single largest party in the constituent
assembly but were well short of a majority in elections in April
2008.
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