The Ministry of Home Affairs has directed Nepal Police to launch an investigation and arrest all those involved in the arson of police vehicles and vandalism and robbery at Lotse Mall in Kathmandu.

Home Secretary Binod Prakash Singh, on Tuesday, held a meeting with the Additional Inspector General of the Kathmandu Valley Police Office Divesh Lohani and other concerned authorities and ordered them to investigate the incident and bring the guilty to book.

The New Buspark-based shopping complex was vandalised and ransacked after the demonstration staged by transport workers on Monday turned violent. Looters had made off with mobile sets worth millions of rupees in the robbery, taking advantage of a protest.

The Ministry also showed concerns about the police’s lackadaisical response, and the failure to take prompt action to abate the protests, a huge security lapse revealed by Monday’s incident.

Transport operators on Monday staged a demonstration against the traffic police’s ‘stringent’ rules, and Kathmandu Metropolitan City’s announcement to not let long and medium route public vehicles park in open spaces other than inside the New Bus Park at Gongabu.

The demonstration took a violent turn when the agitating protesters set fire to two traffic vans, venting their ire against the police, who they say overcharged fines. They also vandalised the supermarket’s building