The first public protest for restoration of democracy in Nepal since King Gyanendra suspended civil government Feb. 1 was predictably shut down by police Feb. 10, as 12 members of the Human Rights and Peace Society were arrested upon arriving at the gathering point. As the detainees were hustled into vans, police set up a cordon around the rally site to prevent other activists from gathering.
Meanwhile, five members of the security forces were killed as hundreds of Maoist rebels attacked the police station and jail in Dhangadi. Some 150 prisoners, mostly captured guerillas, escaped from the jail. (Thanks to the Bahrain Gulf Daily News [2] for reporting this)
The big ticket question: will there be a word about any of this in tommorrow's NY Times, which has been downplaying the Nepal crisis? (Didn't print a word about arrests in the prelude to the planned rally, or the fact that it was called.)
See our last blog post [3] on Nepal.
