KATHMANDU, June 21: The district administration in Dhading clamped a curfew at the district headquarters Sunday after Maoist cadres tried to storm the office of the local development officer* (LDO) as part of their sit-ins in front of the government offices. [break]
The Maoists have started a nation-wide protest against the cabinet decision last week to reverse the Maoist government´s decision of sacking the army chief Rookmangu Katawal.
The curfew has been imposed from 3.30 p.m. Sunday to 4 a.m. Monday, chief district officer (CDO) of Dhading, Uddhav Bahadur Thapa, said over phone.
According to Thapa, the curfew was imposed to contain a tense situation that arose after the Maoist activists clashed with police at the district administration office* when the latter tried to prevent them from manhandling LDO Ramesh Adhikari.
"They (the Maoists) arrived at the Local Development Office at 1:45 p.m. though their scheduled protest had ended at 12," said Thapa.
Police lobbed several teargas shells to disperse the crowd and the district administration office announced the curfew to prevent the situation from spiraling out of control.
In Morang, the Maoists clashed with the police after the latter forced them out of the premises of the District Administration Office. The scuffle left five including three policemen injured. The clash began after police used force to make way for government employees to enter the office.
The sit-ins that started from 10 a.m. till noon also affected traffic in the capital city Sunday. Security personnel had a minor scuffle with the Maoists in front of the Kathmandu District Administration Office, police said.
Constituent Assembly member Double Bahadur Shah suffered a minor head injury when police used force to disperse Maoists who were trying to enter the prohibited zone in front of Singha Durbar.
Maoists pelted stones at police and during the ensuing excahnge lens of Republica photojournalist Bijaya Rai´s camera was broken by a stone pelted by the Maoists. Journalists Niraj Sapkota and Balkrishna Thapa were also injured during the scuffle.
There was heavy security presence in Kathmandu to ensure that the Maoists do not succeed in disrupting work at government offices. The security personnel created barricades around major government buildings and limited mobility around the areas.
Maoist cadres massed at major thoroughfares and intersections in Kathmandu obstructing traffic movement. Although their primary target was Singha Durbar, movements in other parts of the Valley too were affected. Security personnel prevented vehicles from operating around Singh Durbar, Nepal Electricity Authority head office, District Administration Offices of Kathmandu, Bhaktapur and Lalitpur, Department of Roads, and Land Revenues Office among others. Traffic movement was disrupted at Ratnapark, Anamnagar, Pradarsanimarg, Maitighar and Bhadrakali. Normalcy returned only after 1 p.m.
* (Corrected)
