According to UCPN (Maoist) district secretary Hari Prasad Chaudhary, those killed in the clash are Maoist district secretariat member Sanjaya Dhakal, Ruplal Dagaura of Khailad-6 in Kailali, and Narendra BK and Latke BK of Tatopani, Surkhet. The death of policeman Padam Aer has been confirmed by the police.
Security forces were mobilized as over 10 thousand people from several places gathered in the forest area in far-western Kailali district.
Chief District Officer Hari Krishna Poudel confirmed the death of policeman Aer and squatters Narendra BK and Dhakal. Dozens of other were injured. Sub-Inspector Kalyan Singh Mahara and other policemen Swite Khadka and Dev Singh Bista have sustained serious injuries.
BK and Dhakal were shot dead by police and Aer was thrashed to death by the squatters. Mahara was attacked with an axe to his head. Locals said the policeman was thrashed to death after police shot Narendra BK dead.
Hundreds of personnel from Nepal Police and the Armed Police Force along with forest guards were deployed to drive away the squatters who built up huts in Dudejhari Forest along the Lamki-Chisapani section of the East-West Highway.
Maoists blocked the road, placing boulders and tree trunks across it after learning that a large number of security personnel was coming there.
When police reached the forest area, hundreds of squatters were already there ready to retaliate against the security forces. They held sickles, axes, spears, spikes and other local-made weapons.
They hurled stones at the police once the latter reached the site. Later the police fired dozens of teargas canisters and bullets to take the situation under control.
Though the administration mobilized around 1,500 police personnel, the squatters gathered at the place numbered several thousand. The clash continued for hours until evening. An around 1.5-kilometer stretch of the highway turned into a battlefield. The road was covered with stones and bricks used in the clash.
Police burnt down around 1,000 huts. CDO Poudel claimed that all the huts built in the forest area have been destroyed. "We have destroyed all the huts. We are aware that they may rebuild the huts at the same place," he said.
Hundreds of people thronged to the forest areas from several far-western districts after they heard rumors that one could get land in the forest areas. People had started gathering there for the last 10 days.
Tens of thousands thronged the place as they were told that 10 kattha (36,450 square feet) of land would be distributed to the landless and five kattha to others. Around 10,000 families have gathered at the forest area, said the district forest office. "We were happy to learn that we were being given land. But we faced such misfortune," Lahur, an elderly woman, said after policemen burnt down her huts along with her clothes and other articles.
Maoist-affiliated All Nepal Squatters´ Association led the campaign to gather them in the forest areas. People from all nine districts in the far-western region and from Kalikot, Surkhet and Bardiya districts in the mid-western region gathered in the forest areas, according to Forest Officer Baburam Bhandari.
An all-party meeting earlier decided to deploy security forces to remove the forest encroachers. But Maoist leaders objected to the decision.
Maoist leader Chaudhary said they protested against the government action as the Maoist party was for resolving the matter through peaceful means instead of using force against the landless.
Demonstrations in Dhangadhi
The Maoist party has shut down Dhangadhi bazar to protest Friday´s incident. Maoist cadres burnt down a government jeep (Ba 1 Jha 6558) and two motorcycles in the protest.
Chaudhary also said that the party has called a Kailali district shutdown for an indefinite period to protest the government´s use of force.
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