Daytime curfew in Nepal goes but arrests continue

Nepalese security forces charge protesters on the fourth consecutive day-time curfew in Kathmandu on Tuesday. The demonstrators marched the streets shouting "Down with King Gyanendra!". PHOTO: AFP

"The daytime curfew ... in Kathmandu and Lalitpur districts has been lifted until further notice," a newsreader on state-run Nepal Television said. A curfew remains in place at night.

The royal government also reiterated a willingness to talk with political parties spearheading the most intense spate of protests to restore democracy since King Gyanendra seized power 14 months ago.

The king "has from the very outset emphasized on talks to resolve the problem," government spokesman Shrish Shumsher Rana was quoted as saying in the state-run Rising Nepal newspaper.

There was no reaction from opposition parties, but analysts said the monarch was becoming increasingly isolated by the protests and strike action coupled with increasingly strident international criticism.

Opposition parties said they planned to hold a rally later Wednesday to mark the deaths of three protesters shot dead by troops at the weekend.

"The seven-party alliance is holding a gathering to pay tribute to those martyrs who were killed in demonstrations," said Kashinath Adhikari, a protest leader from the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist Leninist)

Protests were banned in the area of the capital where the alliance planned to hold its meeting so the parties said they were bracing for more arrests and clashes.

Further demonstrations were also expected in Gongabu, on the outskirts of the capital, where thousands of demonstrators clashed with police Tuesday and five protesters were treated for shotgun wounds.