Maoist demonstrators clash with police in Kathmandu

May 6, 2009, 10:52 GMT

   Kathmandu - Hundreds of Maoist supporters clashed with police in the Nepalese capital Kathmandu Wednesday, protesting the president's decision to reinstate a sacked army chief.

   The renewed protests came as political parties intensified their efforts to form a new government following the collapse of the Maoist-led coalition over the affair.

   'We are talking with other political parties and want to form a government of national consensus,' said Jhalanath Khanal, the chairman of Communist Party of Nepal - Unified Marxist Leninists.

   President Ram Baran Yadav has given the parties until Saturday to form a new government of national consensus.

   Police clashed with the around 800 Maoist supporters in central Kathmandu after they tried to vandalise a statue of a former king, firing teargas at the protestors.

   'The stone-throwing Maoist demonstrators vandalised vehicles and attacked the statue when the police took action,' Kathmandu district police office said. 'We acted to protect public property.'

   At least two demonstrators and four officers were injured in the clashes, the police said.

   Maoist lawmakers also disrupted a parliamentary session for the second day Wednesday, demanding an apology from Yadav for reinstating army chief Rukmangat Katuwal hours after he was sacked by the Maoists, accusing the president of having violated the constitution. They also vowed to step up protests in parliament and on the streets.

   The political crisis that erupted over the government's attempts to remove Katuwal is threatening to derail the country's peace process following a 2006 peace deal that ended years of civil war in the Himalayan nation.

   This week, the Maoists attempted to replace Katuwal with his second-in-command, General Kul Bahadur Khadka, despite strong opposition from coalition partners.

   Relations between the army and the Maoist-led government have been strained since the army recruited nearly 3,000 new soldiers this year while the Maoists were seeking to integrate nearly 19,000 of their former guerrilla fighters into the national army, as stipulated by the UN-monitored peace accord.

   Defence Minister Ram Bahadur Thapa, who is a senior Maoist politician, tried to block the recruitment, but the army went ahead after the Supreme Court ruled it was legal.

   The Maoists emerged as the single largest party in the constituent assembly but were well short of a majority in elections in April 2008.