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Maoists shut down Nepal, testing peace process
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Maoists shut down Nepal, testing peace process
AFP - Tuesday, May 4
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KATHMANDU (AFP) - – Opposition Maoists carrying sticks and chanting revolutionary slogans shut down much of Nepal for a second day on Monday, piling pressure on the strained peace process in the Himalayan nation.
All shops, schools and offices were closed and vehicles were kept off the streets in the capital Kathmandu and elsewhere across the country as thousands of protesters staged mass rallies and enforced a nationwide strike.
The Maoist party, which has the largest number of seats in parliament, is demanding that the one-year-old ruling coalition be replaced by a Maoist-led national administration.
Lawmakers have until May 28 to complete a new constitution that analysts say is crucial to ensuring lasting peace between the former rebel Maoists and the state -- but few expect the deadline to be met.
"Our strike is peaceful, but if there is no consensus we do not have any option but to revolt," Chetan Sapkota, a Maoist protester, told AFP.
"If peaceful demonstration doesn't work, violence is inevitable," said Sapkota, 32, a traditional dancer from outside Kathmandu.
Maoist guerrillas fought a bloody civil war against the Nepalese state for 10 years before a peace agreement was signed in 2006, and the left-wing rebels then won elections in 2008 and held power for eight months.
More than 100,000 Maoist demonstrators rallied in Kathmandu on Saturday to protest against the current government, a disjointed coalition of about 20 parties which is struggling to keep the peace process on track.
Narayan Kaji Shrestha, the Maoist party's vice chairman, on Monday told a cheering crowd of 5,000 supporters outside the national assembly building that the strike would continue until the government stepped down.
"This movement will not end until we achieve our goal," he said. "This is the last warning and the last opportunity."
He said talks were being held with the ruling coalition, but that the strike would not be halted unless Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal resigned.
In a televised address at the weekend, the moderate left-wing prime minister refused to bow to the Maoists and said that "shutting down the nation is not the way to find a solution to this impasse."
Maoist leader Pushpa Kamal Dahal, who led the rebels during the decade of fighting in which at least 16,000 people were killed, has said the strike which began Sunday is indefinite.
Dahal, known often by his nom-de-guerre Prachanda, was prime minister until May last year when his Maoist-led government fell after the president overruled its decision to sack the head of the army.
The Maoists on Monday allowed only ambulances, waste disposal vehicles and journalists on to the streets, and residents have been warned to stay in their homes except for just two hours in the evening to go shopping.
The protests have so far been peaceful despite fears of clashes between the opposition's aggressive youth wing and the security forces.
"We protect the public and even those who are protesting. We will only use force if laws are violated or protesters enter prohibited zones or damage property," Nepal police spokesman Bigyan Raj Sharma told AFP.
Many residents have been stockpiling food and supplies fearing the standoff could turn violent.
Shopkeeper Manoj Shrestha said he was worried that the lengthening strike would mean no money to feed his family.
"There is no way I can open my shop. These protests are very harmful for people like me who earn a daily living," Shrestha told AFP.
"The country cannot afford more violence. We have come a long way since the end of conflict in 2006. But the politicians are letting it all go down the gutter."
The coalition government has faced months of protests from the Maoists over demands that the left-wing former rebels disband the paramilitary structure of the Young Communist League and return seized property.
Lawmakers are also struggling to reach an agreement on integrating nearly 20,000 former Maoist fighters languishing in UN-monitored camps around Nepal.
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