Protests and death on the streets of Kathmandu
It appears to be the end of the road for King Gyanendra in the Kingdom of Nepal, although he looks like the last person in the region to understand the implications of what is happening around him.
100,000 people have taken to the streets, primarily on the main ring road around Kathmandu, despite the King having called a shoot-to-kill curfew. A curfew that spookily coincides with the very day that the opposition had called for protests against the King's rule on that very ring road.
There are already reports that the police have opened fire on the protesters, killing ten and injuring many more."We are ready to sacrifice our lives for the nation because we are about to be killed, but we are not concerned about that," said Sangam Poudel, a 22-year-old student. "It is for the nation and without the nation there is no life."
The King is claiming that Maoists have infiltrated the crowds and is using this as an excuse for his excessive use of force, although the UN have said they see no proof of this.
"You see the people are uprising regardless of what we tell them," said Ram Chandra Poudel, the general secretary of the Nepali Congress, who was released from prison recently after being detained for three months. "The king must surrender. He cannot contain this movement."
The chain smoking King appears to be the last person to have read the writing on the wall. It is being reported that he has consulted his astrologers, and that this has convinced him to fight on.
If anyone needs convincing of the futility of putting one's hopes in astrology, I would suggest you keep your eye on Nepal.
The movement is simply too strong and the King must fall.
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