Kathmandu: As many as 48 Opposition activists were arrested in Kathmandu on Sunday for holding rallies against King Gyanendra during a 13-hour shoot-at-sigt curfew.
The curfew was imposed at 7 am on the last day of a four-day nationwide strike organised by the seven-party alliance to restore demorcary.
Opposition activists on Sunday chanted anti-king slogans in various places in Kathmandu and demanded restoration of democracy and civil rights.
Hundreds of people staged demonstrations in Putalisadak, Baneshwor, Maitidevi, Kalanki, Gongabun and Bagjbazaar. In Lalitpur, a suburb in the east of Kathmandu, thousands of people shouted anti-Gyanendra slogans.
Lal Bahadur Bishwokarma, chairman of Nepal Backward and Ethnic Community, and student leaders Madhusudan Poudyal and Asta Maharjan are among the people arrested.
The government denied curfew passes to journalists of private news organisations and announced that only the state-run media would be given passes.
FM stations and daily newspapers have extensively reported on Opposition activists defying the curfew and the government's use of "excessive" force to "suppress" protestors.
The general strike has affected life across Nepal and educational institutions, factories, hotels and markets are closed. Protesters and police have clashed across Nepal during the strike and one protestor was killed in Pokhara on Saturday when the Army opened fire at a rally.
Kathmandu's famous Seto Matshendranath Chariot festival was affected due to the curfew. The-three day festival has been postponed for the first time since the 1990 Peoples' Movement for restoration of democracy.
Pre-paid and post-paid mobile services remained suspended for the fourth day on Sunday, causing inconvenience to over five lakh users.
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