On Friday, the protest movement at Baluwatar, the official residence of the prime minister, completed a month and a group of nearly 300 people gathered in front of the premises, organizing a sit-in from 9 a.m. as part of a regular program. [break]But later, the demonstrators tried to cross the prohibited area at gate no. 3 of the residence as part of a civil disobedience step and volunteered to be arrested, saying the government had shown apathy toward their demand even after a month of their campaign.
The police refused to arrest them but used force to stop them from entering the restricted area. In this face-off between them, police charged with batons, manhandled the protesters and made arrests.
The Metropolitan Police detained 32 protesting activists, 20 female and 12 male, but later freed them. Among the arrested were Renu Rajbhandari, Ujjwal Thapa, Ishan Nakarmi, Gita Thapa, Jagannath Lamichhane, Bidhusi Dhungana, Bimal Chandar Thapa, Aastha Pokhrel and Pukar Bam.
“I was in the front of the crowd. We were marching toward the restricted zone, shouting slogans against the negligence of the government toward gender-based issues. A policeman pushed a lady demonstrator accompanying us. When I went to talk to the policeman, he pushed me and I fell to the ground. We then tried to confront the police. They arrested many of us and severely beat up others,” explained Jagannath Lamichhane, one of the regular participants of the movement.
According to Renu Rajbhandari, a human rights activist, “After we were arrested, we saw police thrashing other agitators, especially women, pulling their hair and clothing, kicking with their boots.” She strongly denounced the police reaction to the demonstrators.
Bhakti Shah, a member of the Blue Diamond Society, was beaten up by police and later admitted to BP Hospital at Bashundhara, Kathmandu. “In the attack by police, I have sustained injuries to different parts of the body and there is a patch in my chest, according to the medical report.” he said.
Wheelchair users were the most affected during the scuffle as many of them fell off their chairs. Bhojraj Shrestha, one of the disabled, has been admitted to Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital after being baton-charged.
Meena Poudel of Nepal Disabled Women Association was among others injured. Likewise, Bimal Chandra Sharma, a photojournalist with the Informal Sector Service Centre (INSEC), was thrashed by police.
“We organized the civil disobedience protest to draw the attention of an indifferent government towards gender-based violence.”
Another activist in the campaign, Ujjawal Thapa, informed that peaceful protests will continue until the government addresses the issues of violence against women. “After conducting a meeting with different agitating stakeholders, we will decide on further protests.”
Various human rights organizations including the women human rights network, the National Federation of Disabled Nepal, journalists, lawyers and members of civil society have been participating in the sit-in demonstrations.
However, Spokesperson of Metropolitan Police Range at Hanumandhoka, DSP Dhiraj Pratap Singh, denied that the police roughed up the demonstrators. “We arrested the agitators as they volunteered arrest.” he added.
The protests had kicked off in the last week of December, following the rape and robbery of Sita Rai (name changed) at Tribhuvan International Airport on November 21.
Rai filed a complaint against officials at the Department of Immigration a month ago, but the government is yet to take any action.
Meanwhile, the demonstrators have slammed the report submitted by a committee formed by the government on January 18 to probe the issues of gender violence, stating that the committee had failed to conduct fair investigations into cases of gender-based violence.
They said the sit-in will continue until the culprits in the Sita Rai case are booked.
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