Three killed in Nepal police firing-The Times of India

KATHMANDU: Police opened fire on hundreds of protesters attacking government buildings in a southeastern Nepalese town on Thursday, killing at least three people, officials said. Police shot at the protesters after they attacked six government offices and set them on fire during a riot in Inaruwa, about 300 km southeast of Katmandu, an official said.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the situation was still out of control and top local government and security officials were holding emergency discussions to plan their action.

Violent protests in the region began January 19, claiming 14 lives so far, and have crippled daily life. People in the southern plains, known as the Madeshi, are pressing for more seats in the national Parliament, a guaranteed number of slots in the administration and a degree of autonomy, claiming the government's development and policy-making decisions have always favoured people living in the Himalayan mountains to the north.

Elections for a special assembly are scheduled to be held around June as part of a peace process ending a decade-old communist insurgency. Earlier on Thursday, protest leaders rejected the prime minister's reform proposals aimed at quelling violence in the region.

"The prime minister failed to completely address the problems of the Madeshi people," said Upendra Yadav, chief of the Madeshi People's Rights Forum. On Thursday, a curfew was re-imposed in some major southern towns and cities.