Bandh cripples life in Kathmandu; clashes and vandalism in various places
Normal life has been badly hit in the Kathmandu Valley on Monday as cadres of Young Communist League (YCL) and other Maoist affiliated organisations called bandh (shutdown strike) protesting against the death of Rajendra Phuyal, the district committee member of the Maoist party, under mysterious circumstances.
Traffic came to a halt with Maoist cadres staging demonstrations and burning tires on the roads in Kathmandu, Lalitpur and Bhanktapur since early morning. At places, they even restricted cyclists on the streets.
Only ambulances, police vans and vehicles of media were seen plying on the street while no passenger buses left the capital for districts due to the bandh.
Educational institutions, market and offices remained closed due to the strike. Maoist cadres clashed with police in various places including Balaju and Gongabu. Police fired tear gas canisters to disperse demonstrators pelting stones at them in Balaju. Some policemen and demonstrators were injured in the clashes.
Bandh organisers created obstructions in vehicular movement and vandalised vehicles used by journalists and doctors too. They torched a motorcycle used by a doctor at Gangalal National Heart Centre in Chabahil. YCL cadres also vandalised vehicles of Kantipur TV, Image channel and Avenues TV and abused journalists deployed for reporting.
Dozens of other vehicles have been vandalised for ‘defying’ the bandh order.
Federation of Nepalese Journalists (FNJ) and Nepal Medical Association have condemned the obstruction in the movement of journalists and health professionals.
The Maoists called the bandh to protest the 'killing' of Phuyal, who had been missing for a week. His body was found at the mortuary of Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital, Sunday.
Maoists and the kin of the deceased have accused the UML-affiliated Youth Force of killing Phuyal after abducting him and the police of trying to conceal the details of the death. Phuyal had died on Thursday, but the police informed the kin only on Sunday, Maoists have said.
Police said they found him unconscious on the roadside and he died while he was being taken to TUTH for treatment.
On Sunday, the Maoists had staged demonstrations in front of the Metropolitan Police Post, Balaju and the TUTH.
Meanwhile, the politburo meeting of the Unified CPN (Maoist) scheduled for today has been postponed for tomorrow in protest against the 'killing' of their cadre. nepalnews.com ta Jun 15 09
