Nepal Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli tendered his resignation on Tuesday, as hundreds of protesters attacked his office and vandalised the residences of several political leaders, against the government’s ban on social media. The protests left 19 people dead and over 300 others injured.
The protesters, under the banner of Gen Z, shouted slogans such as “KP Chor, Desh Chhod" (KP thief, leave the country) and “Take Action Against Corrupt Leaders" in multiple parts of the capital city, Kathmandu, news agency PTI reported.
The agitators torched Oli’s residence in Bhaktapur, while he was at the Prime Minister’s residence at Balwatar.
Protesters also torched the residence of former Home Minister Ramesh Lekhak at Naikap in Kathmandu, even after he had resigned from his post on Monday.
OLI HAD CALLED FOR AN ALL-PARTY MEET TODAY
Oli’s resignation also came hours after he had called for an all-party meeting to discuss Nepal’s fast-deteriorating political situation amid intensifying student-led anti-government protests that have spread across the country.
Oli had issued a statement announcing the meeting for 6 pm, though the venue was not specified.
He said dialogue was the way to resolve the crisis.
MASSIVE PROTESTS IN NEPAL CONTINUE
Protests in Nepal escalated on Tuesday, despite curfew orders in Kathmandu and other parts of the country, and even after the country’s government lifted the ban on social media.
Demonstrators demanded Oli’s resignation, saying Lekhak’s exit was not sufficient.
Demonstrations were reported from Kalanki, Kalimati, Tahachal, and Baneshwor in Kathmandu, as well as Chyasal, Chapagau, and Thecho areas of Lalitpur district.
Protesters, mostly students, chanted slogans such as ‘Don’t kill students’, defying the restrictions on public gatherings.
In Kalanki, demonstrators burnt tyres to block roads from the early hours of the morning, according to eyewitness accounts.
The agitating youths also pelted stones at the residence of Communication Minister Prithvi Subba Gurung in Sunakothi at Lalitpur district, PTI quoted eyewitnesses as saying.
Gurung had ordered a ban on the social media sites.
The protesters vandalised the residences of former Prime Ministers Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ at Khumaltar in Lalitpur, and of Sher Bahadur Deuba’s at Budhanilkantha in Kathmandu.
The Gen Z group, which has been campaigning against corruption for some time, has been using social media platforms like Reddit and Instagram to expose the extravagant lifestyles of the children of ministers and other influential figures.
They have been posting videos and images, questioning the sources of wealth that fund such opulence, purportedly derived from corrupt practices.
The ban of social media sites, they said, was an attempt to suppress freedom of speech.
The Nepalese government had ordered the ban of 26 social media sites, including Facebook and X, over their failure to register with the government.
However, in a late-night development on Monday, the government announced the restoration of access to social media platforms, in an apparent bid to ease public anger.
