Press Trust of India
Kathmandu, Nov 22: Nepal police shot and killed two Indian-origin Madhesis participating in a blockade of a key highway in the volatile southern plains over the new Constitution, officials said today, as violence returned to the country reeling under acute shortage of essential goods. An indefinite curfew was today clamped down in Saptari district, some 280 kilometres southeast of the capital, after police firing killed two protesters blocking the East-West Highway late last night. Police said they resorted to firing after the nearly 2,500-strong crowd attacked them with petrol bombs and bricks when they tried to forcibly remove cadres of United Democratic Madhesi Front blocking the nation’s main highway.
Two Madhesis, Birendra Ram and Nageshwor Yadav, were killed during violent clashes between the agitators and the security personnel, who were escorting vehicles carrying passengers. The fresh clashes injured as many as 17 protesters and 25 police personnel, of whom five protesters and two policemen are said to be in serious condition. The protesters started pelting stones at the security personnel which led to the clashes, Saptari District Police Office Chief Bhim Dhakal said. “We had to use force to disperse the mob of protesters after they inadvertently started attacking the security personnel with homemade weapons,” Dhakal was quoted as saying by the Kathmandu Post. The violence comes as the Himalayan nation continues to reel under acute shortage of fuels.