The alliance called bandas in Newa, Tamsaling and Madhes, while the CPN-Maoist enforced strike in the central region. A college was vandalised and students and teachers were thrashed by banda enforcers in Biratnagar.

In Siraha, a person was injured after protesters clashed with police, with some journalists also being thrashed by the authority.

Vehicles stayed off the road and market places, industries, educational institutes and business organisations remained shut due to the strike, forcing the general public to bear the brunt.

According to police, 76 banda enforcers were arrested during the day, while 13 vehicles including some passenger buses were vandalised. Police rounded up 67 persons from Kathmandu Valley, said DIG Madhav Raj Joshi.

Protestors on Tuesday attacked the students and teachers of City College in Biratnagar for opening the college in defiance of the strike. The masked assaulters, who came on motorbikes, manhandled four teachers including the college principal and over a dozen students.

They also vandalised a college bus and smashed the window panes of the college building, Principal Uddhav Bhattarai said. The college had to postpone its examination on Tuesday. The exam could not be held on Monday due to the Madhes banda.

A clash took place between protestors and police in Lahan during the second day of the banda after the protestors tried to stop long-route vehicles which were being escorted by police towards their destinations. Sporadic incidents of violence were reported in Kathmandu, with a microbus being vandalised in Balkumari. A group of youths staged a protest against the banda in New Baneshwor. Police stopped a confrontation between banda enforcers and the youths.

Elsewhere in Ramechhap, banda enforcers took to the street shouting slogans and shutting down markets. Bhardaha, Kanchanpur, Rupani, Kalyanpur were shut in Saptari.

Meanwhile, police have expressed concern over news reports alleging police brutality in the death of a banda enforcer in Janakpur. Rajaram Jha, 25, died at Bhramarpurachowk in Dhanusha on Monday. Banda organisers claimed that Jha died in a clash.

Police said Jha was found severely ill outside a mill in Janakpur and was rushed to hospital where he died. “The cause of the death will emerge after postmortem. But interpreting the incident differently would affect police morale,” Nepal Police said in a statement.

(With inputs from our district correspondents)