KATHMANDU, May 2: Voices of dissent echoed through Maitighar Mandala on Saturday as the Gen Z Centre staged a protest, branding the ongoing eviction drive as “state repression.”
Holding placards and chanting slogans, demonstrators raised pointed questions: “Where is humanity? buried under bulldozers!”, “We saved lives during floods, but couldn't be saved from the government?”, “Holding centres or torture camps?”, “You have blood on your hands,” and “If public land belongs to the government, who do squatters belong to?”, among others.
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The protest comes as the government intensifies its bulldozer drive to clear encroached settlements along major riverbanks, including the Bagmati, Manohara, and Bishnumati.
The campaign to remove settlements along the Bagmati River and its tributaries across the Kathmandu Valley continued on Saturday. So far, nearly 2,000 houses and huts built on encroached government, public, and private land have been demolished.
Criticism is mounting from various quarters, including opposition political parties, which argue that the demolitions have been carried out without adequate preparation or resettlement plans for those displaced.
