Maoist Protest Turns To Bloodshed

A strike by Maoist protesters in Nepal’s capital turned violent on its fifth day.
Maoist Protest Turns To Bloodshed
Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) supporters hit a local man (C) sitting on a motorcycle with sticks during the fifth day of indefinite strike in Budanilkantha on the outskirts of Kathmandu on May 6, 2010. (Parakash Mathema/AFP/Getty Images)
5/6/2010
Updated:
10/1/2015
<a><img src="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/09/et98878304.jpg" alt="Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) supporters hit a local man (C) sitting on a motorcycle with sticks during the fifth day of indefinite strike in Budanilkantha on the outskirts of Kathmandu on May 6, 2010. (Parakash Mathema/AFP/Getty Images)" title="Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) supporters hit a local man (C) sitting on a motorcycle with sticks during the fifth day of indefinite strike in Budanilkantha on the outskirts of Kathmandu on May 6, 2010. (Parakash Mathema/AFP/Getty Images)" width="320" class="size-medium wp-image-1820214"/></a>
Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) supporters hit a local man (C) sitting on a motorcycle with sticks during the fifth day of indefinite strike in Budanilkantha on the outskirts of Kathmandu on May 6, 2010. (Parakash Mathema/AFP/Getty Images)
A strike by Maoist protesters in Nepal’s capital turned violent on its fifth day, as a growing number of protesters against the Maoist protest took action.

Indian media reported noticeable tension in at least five areas of the capital Katmandu where dozens of people were injured. Security forces where deployed to protect Maoists from frustrated people in many places.

In the Saptari district, angered local businessmen battled security forces in an attempt to burn down the Maoist party office. In the Parsa district, makeshift Maoist camps were brutally attacked by young men calling themselves members of Vishwa Hindu Yuva Manch.

Two vehicles filled with Maoist Parliament members were torched and a dozen Maoist leaders were injured.
At a rally Saturday, the Maoist party demanded the coalition government be replaced by a Maoist led government and started an indefinite strike.

After heavy pressure by the opposition, the prime minister of Nepal refused to step down in a nationally aired speech and urged the Maoists to stop their strike saying that “legal parliamentary process” is needed to change a government formed by a majority in Parliament.

Maoist rebels turned toward a political approach in 2006 after a decade of bloodshed and briefly led a coalition government.