KATHMANDU: A day after violent clashes left at least 19 people dead, young demonstrators defied a curfew and targeted symbols of the governing elite. Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli and other ministers resigned as security chiefs pleaded for calm.
Protesters set fire to government buildings, police stations and the houses of politicians in Nepal’s capital as unrest continued for a second day on Tuesday, even after the country’s leader resigned and social media restrictions were reversed.
The departure of Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli with no clear replacement left the country’s leadership uncertain. Several other top officials also stepped down. A day earlier, the authorities opened fire into crowds of young demonstrators, leaving at least 19 people dead, in some of the most widespread social unrest in the South Asian country in recent years.
The heads of Nepal’s main security agencies, including the army chief, issued a joint statement appealing for restraint and calling on political parties to find a peaceful way out of the crisis.Members of the governing elite were personally targeted in the unrest in Kathmandu. Mr. Oli’s home was set on fire, as were the houses of two former prime ministers, Pushpa Kamal Dahal and Sher Bahadur Deuba. The residence of Ramesh Lekhak, the home minister who resigned on Monday after accepting moral responsibility for the 19 deaths, was also burned.
Videos posted on social media showed helicopters airlifting ministers from their quarters in the government’s main administrative building.
The chaos stemmed from a government ban last week on major social media platforms, including WhatsApp and Instagram, which lit a fuse on years of anger and frustration over official corruption and economic inequality. Mr. Oli’s government retreated from the restrictions earlier on Tuesday, and officials declared a curfew in an attempt to head off another day of protests.
A new wave of unrest quickly engulfed the capital anyway. Demonstrators stormed the main government administrative building, which contains Mr. Oli’s office. Smoke was seen pouring from the Parliament building. The Supreme Court building was burned, as were the headquarters of Mr. Oli’s Communist Party of Nepal and of the Nepali Congress party.
As the smoke from the fires covered Kathmandu Valley, Nepal’s main international airport was shut down and flights scheduled to land there were diverted to other countries.
