Police in south Nepal fire at protesters; Indian man killed

KATHMANDU, Nepal — Protesters demonstrating against Nepal’s new constitution clashed with police near the country’s southern border with India on Monday, leaving an Indian man dead, authorities said. Nepalese police opened fire to disperse the protesters after the clashes broke out, killing an Indian man who was on his way to the town of Birgunj in southern Nepal, said Indian police official Rakesh Kumar. Nepalese officials said there were clashes in Birgunj and the border area, but would not confirm the man’s death or give any more details. News stations in Nepal reported that several people were injured in the clashes. Members of the ethnic Madhesi people have been protesting Nepal’s new constitution, saying it divides the Madhesis among a number of states. The Madhesis, who want the creation of a larger state that they would dominate, have imposed a general strike in southern Nepal and blocked the border crossing, resulting in a severe fuel shortage across Nepal. At least 45 people have been killed in the protests since August. There is no official count of the injured. Earlier police used batons to disperse demonstrators angered by Nepal’s new constitution who had blocked a bridge crossing in Birgunj since September 24, cutting off vital supplies and forcing fuel rationing in the Himalayan nation. “Police beat up demonstrators this morning and burned down our tents, forcibly opening the border to allow trucks to move across,” said Shiva Patel, general secretary of the regional Sadbhawana party which took part in the blockade. “We were outnumbered then but now hundreds more have descended on the bridge and blocked it again,” Patel told AFP. Inspector Pawan Kumar Jha said the situation in Birgunj was “tense but under control” and no casualties had been reported. “Protesters pelted stones at police deployed in the field. In order to control the situation, police have fired over 100 shells of tear gas,” he said. Nepal has long sourced all its fuel from India, but the movement of cargo across Birgunj and other Indian border checkpoints had slowed to a crawl since the blockade began. The protesters are from Nepal’s Madhesi ethnic minority, who mainly live in the southern plains. They say the internal borders laid out under a federal system in the new constitution will leave them politically marginalized. More than 40 people have been killed in clashes between police and people protesting against the constitution, which was introduced in September after a deadly earthquake pushed warring political parties to reach agreement. The latest violence dashed hopes of a compromise raised when the government and protesting parties held weekend talks. “The events this morning have taken us all by surprise,” said Akhilesh Upadhyay, editor in chief of The Kathmandu Post. “It will harden positions and we will likely see a game of growing brinkmanship before any deal is done to resolve matters.” The fuel crisis has soured ties between Nepal and its powerful neighbor, with authorities in Kathmandu accuses New Delhi of imposing an “unofficial blockade” to show its dissatisfaction with the new constitution. New Delhi denies the charge and has urged dialogue with the protesting Madhesis, who have close cultural, linguistic and family ties to Indians living across the border. But Patel said Monday’s police action showed the government was not committed to resolving the crisis through dialogue. “The government called our leaders for talks in Kathmandu, but this police action shows that they are two-faced and not committed to dialogue,” he said. There was no immediate sign of fuel trucks entering Nepal, although a customs official told AFP dozens of empty Indian trucks left stranded in Nepal due to the blockade had crossed over to India during the brief period the border was open. “More than a hundred empty Indian trucks returned to India but no vehicles have entered Nepal from the Indian side,” said Sishir Kumar Dhungana, director general in the customs department. The disruption prompted Nepal to sign its first-ever fuel supply agreement with China last week, ending a decades-long monopoly by India. Beijing also agreed to donate 1.3 million liters of petrol to Nepal to try to ease shortages. The blockade has also forced international aid organizations to halt relief operations for tens of thousands of quake victims just weeks before winter. The constitution, the first drawn up by elected representatives, was meant to cement peace and bolster Nepal’s transformation to a democratic republic after decades of political instability and a 10-year Maoist insurgency. Work on the document began in 2008 after the Maoist rebels laid down their arms and entered politics, winning parliamentary elections and abolishing a 240-year-old monarchy. Lawmakers finally reached agreement in June, spurred by a massive earthquake two months earlier that killed nearly 8,900 people and left more than half a million people homeless.