8 cops killed in clash with protestors over new Constitution

Nepal police Monday arrested dozens of demonstrators against a proposed new constitution after they forced shops to close on the second day of a nationwide strike, the latest protest against the document.

The other security personnel were also stabbed, as the mob attacked the security personnel from all directions.

Police from neighboring districts were rushed to the town as reinforcements.

“We have heard reports that…three protesters have also been killed, we are trying to confirm the details”, he added. “All of a sudden protesters encircled the police and attacked them with knives, axes, sickles and spears”.

The new constitution, which would see the country carved into seven states, has sparked anger from those who say the new borders failed to ensure political representation for marginalized communities. “Inspector Ram Bihari Tharu of the Armed Police Force was burnt alive”, he said.

It is not clear if any protesters died in the clashes.

The ethnic Tharu protesters were at a rally in Kailali district in the Far Western region, demanding greater rights under a new constitution.

But home minister Bam Dev Gautam has responded by appealing for peace, calling “on people to not be involved in activities that disturb social harmony and ignite ethnic hatred”.

Monday’s killings were the largest since more than 30 people were killed in eastern Tarai in 2007, which forced the country to adopt federalism in the interim constitution. This is while local administrations have imposed overnight curfews in several districts.

Anger has been building for weeks in Nepal’s western and southern plains after legislators struck a breakthrough deal on the long-awaited charter in June, spurred by April’s devastating quake.

The protesters argue that the new borders will discriminate against historically marginalised communities.

Chairman Krishna Prasad Sitaula on Sunday tabled constitution bill amid protests by Madhes-based parties and Rastriya Prajatantra Party-Nepal, reported Xinhua news agency.

Work on a new national constitution began in 2008, two years after the end of a decade-long Maoist insurgency that left an estimated 16,000 people dead and brought down the 240-year-old Hindu monarchy.