Police employed a water cannon and lobbed teargas at a peaceful protest organised in the Capital against the government's lacklustre response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Around 500 demonstrators had gathered at Bhatbhateni to demand the government improve quarantine conditions, make wider use of Polymerase Chain Reaction tests and make public the Covid-19 expenditure report.

Police asked protestors to clear the area after the gathered crowd grew larger and protestors were unable to maintain physical distance. The protest organisers too had asked protestors to go home and gather at Maitighar Mandala on Saturday.

When protestors failed to leave immediately, police pushed them back towards police headquarters in Naxal and fired teargas shells and used water cannons to disperse the youths.

Earlier on Tuesday too, police had resorted to a baton charge and water cannons to quell around 150 protesters who had gathered in front of the prime minister's residence in Baluwatar.