Nepali cops net 200 anti-king protests

Police said 149 demonstrators had been rounded up in Kathmandu during afternoon protests in the popular Bhotahity and Baneswore market areas against the king's February seizure of power in the Himalayan kingdom.

Witnesses said several hundred women activists of the Nepal Communist Party-United Marxist and Leninist (NCP-UML) rallied at Bhotahity while hundreds of writers, artists and politicians had gathered at Baneswore.

In Mahendranagar, meanwhile, more than 3,000 people, led by the People's Front Nepal, had demonstrated against the king, PFN leader Lilamani Pokharel said.

"In the demonstration, more than 60 party activists were arrested," he said.

The PFN is one of the members of a seven-party alliance, including the Nepali Congress and NCP-UML, which has been organising daily demonstrations since last Sunday against the king's seizure of executive powers.