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Maoist agitators face public fury
- Twelve including nine-yr-old hurt; two motorcycles gutted
KATHMANDU, MAY 06 -
Fed up to the gills of the general strike imposed by the UCPN (Maoist), enraged locals at various places in the Capital took to the streets and retaliated against the agitating Maoists on Thursday. In the ensuing clashes, 12 persons including a child were injured while two motorcycles were torched.
Tension ran high in Budhanilakantha, Jorpati, Boudhha, Kapan and Basundhara on the fifth day of the strike after the banda enforcers and enraged locals clashed. Police said over a dozen people were injured in course of anti-banda demonstrations.
Claiming that the Maoists forcibly imposed the banda, locals in Budhanilakantha swarmed out on the streets and defied the banda by opening market places. However, the situation turned nasty when a huge number of Maoist cadres reached there and threatened anyone who defied the strike.
Pulling down shutters, the banda enforcers pelted anti-strike locals with stones in which a nine-year-old child, Roshan Magar, sustained serious injury on his head, said Sub-inspector Bharat Regmi who was present during the clash. Magar was rushed to TU Teaching Hospital.
A Maoist cadre, Ramesh Shrestha, and local Sunil Bhandari were injured in the clashes. Police resorted to baton charge and fired three rounds of tear gas shells to disperse the unruly mob.
Meanwhile, the Maoist cadres claimed that the UML youth wing Youth Force (YF) cadres had taken hostage 30 of their cadres. Locals were terrorised after the agitators
carried out raids on locals’ houses in the area in search of their cadres.
In Jorpati, locals spilled out of their houses and chased away the Maoist cadres. They also vandalised a water-tanker carrying water for the Maoist activists in which tanker driver Sanjeev Tamang and his assistant driver were injured. Locals claimed that the tanker was vandalised after it hit a motorcycle in the area.
Baton-wielding Maoist activists from other places joined the fray and pelted stones at the locals. Deputy Superintendent of Police Govinda Ram Pariyar said that at least three persons were injured in the clash. Local youths in Bouddha also staged a demonstration against the banda organisers which resulted in a clash and two youths getting injured.
In another incident in Basundhara, four people — Dhan Bahadur Shrestha and Chandra Bahadur Karki and the retaliators — Dharmalal Shrestha and Karnaraj — sustained injuries in a clash between the locals and the Maoists.
In yet another incident, a local identified as 45-year-old Kumar Risal was injured when Maoist supporters beat him up for participating in an anti-strike rally at Dhobikhola, Lalitpur. Protesting against the donation drive of the Maoists, locals took out the rally and chanted slogans against the banda enforcers. The Maoists obstructed the locals’ peaceful rally at Jhamsikhel, Lalitpur.
Meanwhile, Maoist activists vandalised a motorcycle at Tripureshwor and torched another at Keshar Mahal for defying their strike. Maoist activists have been claiming that YF cadres were involved in action against the Maoists in various parts of the Capital.
However, YF Chief Mahesh Basnet denied the involvement of YF cadres and claimed that locals on their own took out the anti-strike demonstrations. However, he maintained that the YF would support the locals if they raise their voice against the banda.
Posted on: 2010-05-07 08:42
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