After massive protests and clashes in Kathmandu, Nepal government announced to withdraw its earlier decision to ban the social media sites. Government has also requested the protesting Gen-Z group to withdraw their protests. Now all the major social media platforms are back online in Nepal.
Home Minister Ramesh Lekhak has resigned, citing moral responsibility for the crackdown that left dozens of the protesters injured. The Nepal government insists that protests have been hijacked by the extremists. Minister Prithvi Subba Gurung says an anarchist infiltrated the movement, but protesters allege systemic corruption, political high-handedness and censorship.
Their demands are that shutdown corruption, unbanned social media, which has already been done, and accountability from the leaders. As I was going out, I saw a lot of people showing up to this protest. And what happened was me as an individual, me as a Nepali citizen, something came up to me.
So me and my friends, we decided to come to the protest, and it saddens me to see that how the people we're protesting against do not care about us. What we see is that a lot of anger amongst people, and they are continuously asking the police armed force reinforcement which had come on the ground to go back and to not disturb their protest. So that's what is being said.
And the situation on the ground is actually volatile. What we can certainly tell you is it can change any moment. We are standing right in front of the Parliament of Nepal.
What we also see is that the ambulances right behind us are being allowed to move while the road remains completely blocked by the protesters.
They are demanding that the prime minister of Nepal, K.P. Sharma Ali, must resign, and the elderly leadership of Nepal have to give up. In the meantime, the reinforcements are coming on the ground to protect the Parliament of Nepal.
What we also see is that the elderly elderly elderly from Nepal are also joining the protest this today, because yesterday it was all Gen Z's, the youngsters who had come in big numbers in front of the Parliament. But today it seems to be a different picture. India today is bringing you this exclusive report from ground zero in Nepal.
This is a really volatile situation. What we see in front of the Parliament, the armed forces vehicles have come in front of the Parliament, and the protesters have climbed those vehicles.
This reinforcement comes after an hour of protest sloganeering right in front of the Parliament.
These were the Nepal police personnel who are deployed outside the Parliament armed police force that I can read out here on the ground. Those have been brought to the Parliament, but the protesters are asking them not to leave their vehicles, not to move forward. You can see the driver of that police armed force van is also meeting and shaking hands with the protesters.
On the other side, it is the protesters, young protesters, the Gen Z protesters who are on the ground recording the entire sequence as well.
I am standing at the place where the entire day was a bloodbath, the revolution of Gen Z, the Gen Z protest that took place here. Twenty people have lost their lives in the brutal police action.
Hundreds of people are still on the ground in the hospital, and they are praying to God for the protection of their lives. You can see the armed forces are coming here. They want to see how the protest took place in the Parliament yesterday, and how the protest took place here.
You can still see it. However, the government has removed all the bans on social media since last night. The government has bowed down to their demands, but the Gen Z people do not agree with this at all. They say that until the Prime Minister does not leave his post and until a new system comes here, their protest will continue. However, the Home Minister has resigned yesterday. His resignation has also not been accepted.
All political parties have opposed it. After sitting for hours yesterday, the government finally had to bow down to these protestors, and they have removed all the bans on social media since midnight. And Savitri Rajali, journalist from Kathmandu, continues to stay with us.
Savitri, we saw that there is immense anger on the ground in Kathmandu. The protests have again begun from morning. And there is this one point that all the protestors have been making, that there should be sattva parivartan, or the change of the government.
So, is that the only way that could bring an end to this unrest in Nepal? Yeah, it's not only the Gen Z, it's the entire Nepal. All age groups, from Gen Z groups to elder people, they have lost hope on Olly. They don't have any confidence that Olly can continue all the responsibility he's supposed to do.
And therefore, everybody believes that one day soon, they will remove him from the power and replace someone younger, more authentic a person on that seat.
Savitri, thank you for joining us on the broadcast with the details from the ground in Kathmandu on the unrest that still continues in Nepal.
Source: Youtube IndiaToday