Two mass demonstrations were slated for Friday. One under the Socialist Front, and the other led by pro-monarchy forces. Both demonstrations started at the same time.

The bigger one by the front—with the CPN (Maoist Centre), the CPN (Unified Socialist), the Nepal Samajbadi Party and the Netra Bikram Chand’s Communist Party of Nepal as its members—was held at Bhrikutimandap. It concluded peacefully after speeches by leaders of the four parties.

However, the pro-monarchy demonstration at Tinkune near Koteshwar in Kathmandu, with a lower turnout, turned violent with two people killed and several others injured. Properties worth millions of rupees were burnt, destroyed and looted by monarchy supporters.

Chhabi Rijal, joint-secretary at the Ministry of Home Affairs, said that around 35,000 people attended the Socialist Front’s demonstration, whereas the pro-monarchy protest drew hardly 5,000.

According to witnesses, it all started after Durga Prasai, a controversial businessman who was tasked with mass mobilisation, broke through police barricades in his SUV to enter the restricted area. The Tinkune area had been designated as the demonstration site for pro-monarchy forces, and they were barred from advancing towards Baneshwar. However, Prasai, driving the car, tried to ram through police barricades to enter the prohibited area.

The police said they then used force to contain the protesters. “The clash ensued when police tried to stop the protesters from entering the restricted area,” Shekhar Khanal, spokesperson for the Kathmandu Valley Police Office, told the Post.

Though pro-monarchy leaders accused the police of instigating the protesters, a monitoring report by the National Human Rights Commission suggests that the clash erupted after protesters entered the restricted area and started pelting stones at the police.

“The protesters broke through the police barricade at Tinkune and tried to enter the restricted area around New Baneshwar. A clash between protesters and security forces ensued, with protesters hurling brickbats at the police and at private houses,” reads a statement by the constitutional human rights watchdog.

The protest turned anarchic after police fired tear gas shells and water cannons to contain it. Rioters resorted to vandalism and arson in private properties in the Tinkune area first and even tried to obstruct firefighters from dousing the fire on a commercial building.

A video journalist died in the building set ablaze by protesters. Suresh Rajak, who was filming for Avenues Television from the roof of the building, was killed in the fire.

Another person, who was part of the protest, succumbed to bullet injuries at a hospital later. The Ministry of Home Affairs identified the deceased as 29-year-old Sabin Maharjan of ward 4 in Kirtipur Municipality.

The police claimed they had to use rubber bullets at protesters as they turned violent. The District Administration Office, Kathmandu even had to impose curfew orders on the Baneshwar-Tinkune-Koteshwar stretch and the surroundings after the protest spiralled out of control.

The District Administration Office, Kathmandu, on Friday, initially enforced the curfew from 4:25 pm to 10 pm on Friday. Later the local administration extended the order in the areas until Saturday morning. In a notice, Chief District Officer Rishiram Tiwari said the curfew would remain in place until 7 am, Saturday.

The mass dispersed from Tinkune vandalised and torched private houses, party offices, vehicles and shops indiscriminately and even looted shops and the Koteshwar branch of the Bhatbhateni Supermarket. They pelted stones at the office of Kantipur Television and vandalised the Annapurna Media Network’s building. They even tried to set the Annapurna Media House on fire.

Issuing separate statements in the evening, various media organisations denounced the violence. “The heinous acts of carrying out anarchic and violent activities, causing damage to private as well as public properties and attacking media houses… in the guise of demonstrations of political groups or parties is unacceptable,” a statement issued by the KMG read. The media organisation has demanded that the government punish the perpetrators.

The Annapurna Media Network has said the modus operandi of Friday’s protests indicated that the press is going to be the first target if the ‘autocratic regime’ is revived.

Vowing to fight against autocracy of any kind, the network has demanded action against those involved in the violence.

Nepal Police spokesperson Deputy Inspector General Dinesh Acharya said they have received reports of vandalism and arson in 14 private and a couple of public properties as of Friday 9 pm.

“The unruly mass also burnt 13 vehicles including police vans and looted shops, shopping malls and individuals,” he told the Post. “As many as 30 protesters, 21 Nepal Police personnel and 19 from the Armed Police Force have sustained injuries. They are receiving treatments in different hospitals.” Seven of the injured are reported serious.

The protesters did not spare even members of the National Human Rights Commission who were monitoring the protest. Tika Ram Pokharel, the commission’s spokesman, said a team from his office was attacked by protesters, leaving one injured. The commission has asked the government to take legal action against those responsible.

“Although peaceful protest is a human right, exercising one's rights in a way that impinges on those of others goes against the core principles of human rights. Violent activities and actions that obstruct the exercise of others’ rights cannot be accepted under any pretext,” the commission’s statement said. “Therefore, the commission urges the Nepal government to bring those involved in such violent acts under the legal framework and take necessary actions.”

The leaders of the protest, however, say it was the police that instigated the protesters for violence. “The police fired tear gas at us when we were gathering peacefully,” Nabaraj Subedi, who is leading the protest that aims to reinstate monarchy, told the Post. “It was targeted to provoke the protesters. The government should take responsibility for the loss.” He said they will not give up their protest.

“We are organising regular protests from Sunday,” he said.