Students, police clash in Nepal during strike

Nepalese students and demonstrators shout slogans as they run past a burning tyre in Kathmandu yesterday during a day-long general strike called by seven opposition political parties to protest at the massacre of eleven civilians by a soldier late on December 14.. PHOTO: AFP

Shops and schools were shut and public transport off the roads in the city, which mainly heeded the strike call by political parties as anger remained high following the incident around midnight on Wednesday when the soldier fired on a crowd of villagers who had gathered at a temple to mark the full moon.

The soldier, who had an argument with the villagers, also died in the shootout in the tourist town of Nagarkot, near Kathmandu, but the circumstances of his death were not clear.

Witnesses said students, trying to enforce the strike by blocking roads, threw rocks at hundreds of riot policemen who retaliated by firing tear gas. There were no reports of serious injuries.