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Jack Rabbit Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Apr-20-06 09:30 AM
Original message
BBC (Thursday): Police fire on mass Nepal protest
Edited on Thu Apr-20-06 09:30 AM by Jack Rabbit

From the BBC Online
Dated Thursday April 20 13:53 GMT (6:53 am PDT)



Police fire on mass Nepal protest

Nepalese security forces have opened fire on protesters in the capital, Kathmandu, killing at least three people, hospital sources say.

At least 100,000 people defied a shoot-on-sight curfew, marching on central Kathmandu to rally against the absolute rule of King Gyanendra.

Doctors say at least 40 others were injured, some seriously.

The king imposed direct rule in February 2005, saying the government had failed to defeat Nepal's Maoists.

Read more.
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leftchick Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Apr-20-06 11:05 AM
Response to Original message
1. They killed two people yesterday
never made it to US media that I could see. This is crazy!
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Jack Rabbit Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Apr-20-06 11:08 AM
Response to Reply #1
2. The King seems to be Bush's kind of guy
Of course, royalism is his kind of democracy.

Actually, Dr. Rice did criticize the King recently, but it rings hollow whenever a Bush junta spokesman speaks in such platitudes as that.
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jobycom Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Apr-20-06 02:14 PM
Response to Reply #2
4. Maybe more than you realize
There's a theory in Nepal that King Gyanendra was behind the massacre of the royal family of his brother, King Birendra. Neat article link to follow, but here's a quick summary.

Nepal is divided politically between the pro-Indian land-owning faction, the populist Maoist faction, and the nationalistic imperial faction. India has long wanted to annex Nepal, who has resisted. The previous king, Birendra, took office as an absolute sovereign, but yielded some power to the elected parliamentary government. The elected government was largely pro-Indian, thus anti-Maoist. The king and his large royal bodyguard was neutral, but sided somewhat with the Maoists because they were against the pro-Indian forces of the parliamentary government. In other words, the kind was a barrier to plans to annex Nepal to India.

On June 1, 2001 (soon after Bush was sworn in), King Birendra and all of his immediate family were slaughtered in the royal palace. At first, the slaughter was blamed on an automatic weapon that malfunctioned, but hours later it was blamed on the crown prince, who, it was said, was in love with a commoner he was not allowed to marry, and so he killed his whole family and then himself. Only one person survived the massacre--the son of the king's brother, Prince Gyanendra. Prince Gyanendra was then sworn in as king, being next in line after everyone else who had been murdered.

The Maoists immediately blamed Gyanendra for the massacre. Gyanendra was known for being pro-Indian, thus anti-Maoist--the opposite of his dead brother. But since the government, the secret police, etc, were on the pro-India side, as far as I've heard there has been real investigation.

The larger context is even more interesting. The hot rivalry between America and China was peaking in early 2001, as we all remember, with the spy plane incident and no telling what else. India and the US were allies, and the Maoists naturally looked to China for inspiration (despite claiming they were Nepal nationalists). The US, in fact, had recently opened CIA offices in Nepal (reportedly), shortly before the massacre.

Now, fast forward. The new King overthrows the the new parliamentary government in 2005 for "not doing enough to fight the Maoists." Sound Bushy? He rules as a dictator opposed to the will of the people and elected government, and is using force to squash popular protests.

So in short, we have a pro-Indian, pro-American dictator who comes to power by massacring the royal family shortly after PNAC Bush comes to power in America, and overthrowing the democratically elected government to sieze absolute power and oppose the forces of China--a nation that is currently kicking US economic butt and helping to drive up our oil prices.

So it's possible he is literally "Bush's kind of guy," and it's small wonder that Bush's criticism of this clear enemy of freedom has been muted.

Here's an article from 2001 on the political situation of Nepal shortly after the massacre. It seems to be biased, and everything I've said is only one interpretation of events (not even necessarily my own), but it's an interesting perspective, nonetheless. And possibly even true. :-)
http://www.monthlyreview.org/0601letter.htm
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Jack Rabbit Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Apr-20-06 03:03 PM
Response to Reply #4
7. That is really what I meant by that remark
I can't say whether he is behind the slaughter of the royal family. IIRC, the alleged assailant was the Crown Prince who killed himself, leaving no witnesses.

Would the kind of person who would grab power from parliament do that sort of thing? We can't say for certain, but it's a lot more likely than with most people.
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IndianaGreen Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Apr-20-06 08:43 PM
Response to Reply #4
8. Excellent summary of the situation in Nepal
Edited on Thu Apr-20-06 08:47 PM by IndianaGreen

Pro-democracy demonstrators in Kathmandu

Bush and his lapdogs are the best thing that has happened to the Left throughout the world. The rapacious nature of capitalism has been unmasked for all to see.




Nepal's Maoist rebel leader
Prachanda spoke exclusively
to the BBC

Meeting Nepal's Maoist leader

By Charles Haviland
BBC News

On Monday, Nepal's Maoist movement marks its 10th year of insurgency in the Himalayan kingdom.

In a rare move, the rebel leader, Prachanda, spoke out about the conflict that has claimed some 13,000 lives - and the possible exile or execution of Nepal's King Gyanendra.

It was difficult to believe that the man sitting modestly in the corner was Pushpa Kamal Dahal, better known under his nom-de-guerre of Prachanda ("The Fierce One").

This is a man whose face, until a few weeks ago, was known only through a single photograph, taken in rural Nepal in 2001.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4707058.stm
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hopein08 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Apr-20-06 01:52 PM
Response to Original message
3. My sister has a Nepalese friend & her parents have told her to forget...
returning to Nepal after she finishes graduate school like she had planned and they had wanted her to. They are apparently well-to-do friends of the government in some way. I don't know if they support the King but she hasn't been able to talk to her parents much lately because of the curfew.

It is also her family's theory that this King Gyanendra was behind the 1997, I think it was, shooting of the then King, Queen, and like five other members of the family...rather than the crazy heir who shot himself and was blamed for losing it and killing his family.
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Vidar Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Apr-20-06 02:25 PM
Response to Original message
5. I admire the Nepalese protesters' courage
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WhiteTara Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Apr-20-06 02:43 PM
Response to Reply #5
6. me too. I hope some of it rubs off on us. n/t
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muriel_volestrangler Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Apr-21-06 04:04 AM
Response to Original message
9. New shoot-to-kill curfew for Friday
The government of Nepal has imposed a new shoot-to-kill curfew in Kathmandu, in the wake of escalating violence between police and protesters.

The curfew, which will remain in force throughout Friday, coincides with a planned rally called by the opposition.
...
The BBC's Sanjoy Majumder in Kathmandu says groups of people have begun protesting in some places though their numbers are lower than on Thursday.

Protesters burnt tyres on some city streets and on the outskirts ahead of the curfew, and opposition parties pledged to defy the curfew for the second day.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/4929102.stm
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shadowknows69 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Apr-21-06 04:46 AM
Response to Original message
10. Guess what folks
our hands may have to get this dirty and bloody someday if we want to save our country.
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ButterflyBlood Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Apr-21-06 10:26 PM
Response to Original message
11. This is starting to remind me of the Shah
Basically the peope have had enough and he isn't going to last.

Now we just have to hope that whoever takes his place is far better than the people who took the Shah's place....
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