South Asia News
Demonstrator killed in further Nepalese violence
By DPA
Jan 27, 2007, 13:40 GMT

Kathmandu - Police have shot dead at least one person in southern Nepal as violence spread to more areas with a sizable ethnic Madhesi community, reports said Saturday.

Independent Image Channel television reported that the police opened fire on a large group of demonstrators belonging to Madhesi People's Rights Forum (MPRF) in the town of Kaliaya in Bara district, 80 kilometres south of the Nepalese capital Friday afternoon, after a protest rally turned violent.

Kalaiya has been put under curfew following the clashes.

It quoted the police as saying they opened fire to control the mob. Half a dozen others were injured in the incident. A number of police also sustain injuries, the television said.

The latest death brings the total number of people killed in a week of violence in south and southern Nepal to at least six.

In the neighbouring commercial city of Birgunj, MPRF supporters continued to defy curfew orders.

Reports reaching the Nepalese capital said protestors set fire to two small police posts in the city and attacked offices of political parties.

The protests spearheaded by MPRF has spread to several districts in the Nepalese plains known as Terai and authorities continued to clamp curfew on five major towns including Birgunj, Biratnagar, Gaur and Janakpur.

Curfew in the town of Lahan, the epicentre of the violence, was reduced Saturday to four hours.

MPRF is calling for changes to the interim constitution saying it does not address the issues of ethnic Madhesi people.

It also wants proper representation in government for one-third of Nepal's population who it says can be classified as Madhesi.