Police, protesters hurt in Nepal clashes
KATMANDU, Nepal --Police used batons to break up a protest by supporters of this Himalayan country's detained former prime minister on Sunday, leaving about 15 demonstrators and 10 police injured.
About 400 supporters of Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba were rallying outside the Royal Commission for Corruption Control, waving flags and chanting slogans against the king, who seized absolute power in February and fired Deuba.
The skirmishes began when police moved in to clear the protesters because they were blocking the street.
They used batons to beat the protesters, injuring about 15 of them. Many more had cuts and minor bruises.
Protesters retaliated by pelting police with bricks, injuring at least 10 police officers, said a policeman at the scene who declined to be named.
"Release our leader," the protesters chanted before police broke the protest.
Deuba is being tried by the commission on charges that his administration embezzled $5.3 million from a road construction project.
Nepal's King Gyanendra fired Deuba and his government on Feb. 1 as he seized power. The monarch said the move was necessary to quell a nine-year communist insurgency and stamp out corruption. 