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> Nepalese protesters repeat calls for republic. 23/04/2006. ABC News Online
> [This is the print version of story http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200604/s1621981.htm]
> Last Update: Sunday, April 23, 2006. 9:11pm (AEST)

> Pro-democracy protesters are defying the latest curfew imposed by the King. (Reuters) |

> # Nepalese protesters repeat calls for republic

> Thousands of protesters have defied a daytime curfew in the Nepalese capital, chanting slogans against the King on the 18th consecutive day of protests.

> At least three people were injured when police opened fire on one group of protesters in an eastern suburb of Kathmandu, witnesses say, although they were not sure if live rounds or rubber bullets were used.

> King Gyanendra's offer on Friday to hand over power to an alliance of seven political parties has failed to quell the demonstrations against his rule, if anything emboldening the protesters still further.

> A movement which started out with the aim of restoring democracy has, for some of its participants at least, more radical goals.

> "Police and soldiers, you are our brothers - shoot Gyanendra," one group chanted at rows of padded and helmeted riot police wielding sticks and shields.

> Behind the police, soldiers in green camouflage uniforms gripped submachine guns and automatic rifles, with orders to shoot to kill if the crowd broke through the police ranks and barbed wire barricade.

> "We will burn the crown and we will run the country," the crowds chanted.

> "Gyanendra, thief, leave the country."

> Today's protests are largely confined to the ring road surrounding the capital.

> Although the road lies within the curfew zone, large stretches are in the hands of the protesters, with burning logs and tyres blocking access to security forces.

> In the north of the city, a group of protesters carried a wooden stretcher with an effigy of a dead Gyanendra, ostensibly on its way to cremation.

> Others hung a rat from electricity wires, a banner hanging from its body saying "Gyanendra is dead, God is great".

> In a country where many people traditionally revered the monarch as a Hindu god, the sentiments break a centuries-old taboo.

> - Reuters

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