May 3: A strike to force the resignation of Nepal’s Prime Minister shut down the capital for second day Monday as political parties struggled to reach a compromise to end the standoff between the government and the former Maoist rebels.
Thousands of police officers in riot gear watched as Maoist supporters demonstrated in the streets of Kathmandu, chanting anti-government slogans and demanding that Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal step down to allow a Maoist-led coalition government to take power.
Home ministry spokesman Jaya Mukund Khanal said there were no reports of violence but that highways were deserted and few ambulances, press vehicles or water trucks were seen on city streets. Schools, markets, factories and businesses were shuttered; only government offices were open, and their employees had to walk to work. Leaders of the three major political parties — the Maoists, the Nepali Congress and the Prime Minister’s Communist Party of Nepal (United Marxist Leninist) — met until late Sunday but failed to reach an agreement to end the standoff.
“We have made progress and will meet again on Monday for further talks,” said Jhalnath Khanal of the Communist Party of Nepal (United Marxist Leninist). The Maoists say they have the largest number of seats — although not the majority — in the National Assembly and greatest amount of support among the population. They have been seeking to oust the government for months, although this is the first time they have called a strike. Thousands of supporters of the Maoists went through neighbourhoods of the capital demanding that people close their shops.
The group has been known to resort to violence against those who defy their strike calls. On Saturday, Maoists staged a huge rally in Kathmandu, but the Prime Minister refused their demands to step down.