Nepal protests ‘hijacked’, Gen Z claim, as army patrols the streets

Nepal’s army has deployed patrols on the streets of Kathmandu, as the Himalayan nation reels from its worst unrest in decades.

Fierce protests against corruption and nepotism spiralled into arson and violence on Tuesday. The prime minister resigned as politicians’ homes were vandalised, government buildings torched and parliament set ablaze. More than 20 people have died in the unrest since Monday.

But the “Gen Z” groups spearheading the protests distanced themselves from the destruction, saying it was “hijacked” by “opportunists”.

On Wednesday, Kathmandu’s airport reopened and the capital was relatively quiet as most residents obeyed a curfew, but smoke was still rising from burning buildings.

Nationwide curfews are currently in place until Thursday morning and the army has warned of punishment for anyone involved in violence and vandalism.

Twenty-seven people have been arrested for their involvement in violence and lootings and 31 firearms have been found, it added.

Across various parts of the capital, military checkpoints have now been set up. On New Baneshwor street – the centre point of Tuesday’s protests – officers are checking the IDs of any vehicles passing through.

One of the few sounds that can be heard is officers calling for people to stay at home.

“No unnecessary travel,” their voices blare through a loudspeaker.

Still, some young people are out on the streets carrying bin liners and wearing masks, cleaning up the damage caused by the protests.

Among them is Ksang Lama, 14, who didn’t attend the protests, but is hopeful it will lead to change in Nepal.

“This corruption thing has been in Nepal since a very, very long time, and I think it is high time that the nation needs to change,” she said. “I really hope that it can bring something positive to our country.”

Another supporter of change – 24-year-old Parash Pratap Hamal, who took part in Tuesday’s demonstrations – says he is now cleaning up because they had caused “a lot of pollution”.

He believes Nepal “needs independent political figures”, he says – citing Kathmandu mayor Balendra Shah as someone who would make a good leader for the country.

The military is attempting to control a volatile situation, with Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli’s resignation leaving a leadership vacuum.

His government’s abortive attempt to ban social media triggered the demonstrations that saw 19 protesters killed in clashes with police on Monday.

Those deaths only fuelled the unrest on Tuesday, when three more deaths were reported. Two police personnel also lost their lives, the authorities say.

Scenes of violence and vandalism have come to illustrate the visceral intensity of the anti-government demonstrations.

Thousands of inmates have escaped from prisons around Kathmandu in the chaos, local officials told BBC Nepali.

Five young inmates were killed late on Tuesday when security forces opened fire at escapees from a juvenile correctional facility in Banke, in western Nepal. According to a director at the prison, they were all under the age of 18.

The military has invited the Gen Z protesters to engage in peace talks. Student leaders are consolidating a fresh list of demands, one of their representatives told the BBC.

But many protesters are worried that the movement has been co-opted by “infiltrators”.

Tuesday’s protest “organised by Nepal’s Generation Z, was conducted with a clear vision: to demand accountability, transparency, and an end to corruption,” read a statement issued by protesters.

“Our movement was and remains non-violent and rooted in the principles of peaceful civic engagement.”

The authors of the statement said they were actively volunteering on the ground to “responsibly manage” the situation, safeguard citizens and protect public property.

They also said no further protests were scheduled from Wednesday onwards, and called on the military and police to implement curfews as necessary.

“Our intent has never been to disrupt daily life or to allow others to misuse our peaceful initiative,” the statement said.

The army, too, has alleged that various “individuals and anarchist groups” had infiltrated the protests and were damaging private and public property.

“We are mainly in the process of controlling elements who are taking advantage of the situation to loot, set fires and cause various incidents,” military spokesman Rajaram Basnet told the BBC.

The demonstrations were ostensibly triggered by the government’s decision last week to ban 26 social media platforms, including WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook – but they have since grown to embody much deeper discontent with Nepal’s political elite.

In the weeks before the ban, a “nepo kid” campaign, spotlighting the lavish lifestyles of politicians’ children and allegations of corruption, had taken off on social media.

And while the social media ban was hastily lifted on Monday night, the protests had by that stage gained unstoppable momentum, plunging the nation into chaos.

On Tuesday, protests continued unabated. A crowd in Kathmandu torched the headquarters of the Nepali Congress Party, which is part of the governing coalition, and the house of its leader, Sher Bahadur Deuba, a former PM.

In the capital Kathmandu, several locations have been targeted by anti-corruption protesters since Monday.

Hundreds of protesters broke into and torched the country’s parliament building, smashing windows and spray-painting graffiti and anti-corruption messages on the walls.

The Singha Durbar, a large complex in the city that houses Nepal’s government offices, was also stormed, and the Supreme Court on Wednesday announced that it had postponed all hearings of pending cases indefinitely due to severe damage.

“Since the case files, servers, and the courtroom were severely damaged in the fire, the hearings scheduled for today have been postponed,” said a notice issued by the Supreme Court’s chief registrar.

“The hearings scheduled for tomorrow are also postponed until further notice.”

On Tuesday afternoon, in a self-proclaimed bid to pave the way for a constitutional solution, Prime Minister Oli stepped down.

“In view of the adverse situation in the country, I have resigned effective today to facilitate the solution to the problem and to help resolve it politically in accordance with the constitution,” Oli wrote in his letter to President Ramchandra Paudel.

But it’s not clear who will replace him – or what happens next, with seemingly no-one in charge.

“Looking ahead, we believe Nepal’s future leadership must be free from entrenched political party affiliations, fully independent, and selected on the basis of competence, integrity, and qualifications,” the Gen Z protesters said in their statement on Tuesday.

“We demand a transparent and stable government that works in the interest of the people and not for the benefit of corrupt individuals or political elites,” they added.

“Our goal remains firm: a proper government with qualified, non-corrupt leaders.”