- Safiu Kehinde
It was a horrid start of a week for every politician in Nepal as youths across the Asian country staged what has been described as one of the biggest protests in the history of the nation.
The ongoing protest, championed by the youths under the aegis of Gen Z, has led to massive destructions across the country.
Triggered by last week’s ban on 26 social media platforms by Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, the protest on Monday escalated into anti-corruption and nepotism demonstrations by students and youths with the country’s capital city, Kathmandu, being the focal point of the protest.
While the ban was lifted on Monday, the protest had however become more violent and aggressive yesterday following the death of 19 protesters who clashed with the police.
This had forced Oli to resign amid Nepal’s worst unrest in decades, as public anger mounts.
In the wake of his resignation, crowds stormed the Nepali parliament in Kathmandu, setting it on fire with thick black smoke from the razed building billowing into the sky.
Government buildings and the houses of political leaders were attacked around the country.
A crowd in Kathmandu torched the headquarters of the Nepali Congress Party, which is part of the governing coalition, and the house of its leader, Sher Bahadur Deuba.
The house of KP Oli – a 73-year-old four-time prime minister who leads the Communist Party – was also set on fire.
As captured in series of videos shared on X, some of the politicians were beaten in their homes before being dragged out and thrown into the river.
Some of the politicians were however rescued by emergency with a video showing them airlifted from the uproar.
Another video showed moments where some of the police officers surrendered to the Gen Z protesters with their uniform tied on their waist and hands clamped their head in submission.
They were also whiskered away and forced into the river where they pelleted with stones.
According to the BBC, three more deaths were reported on Tuesday. Amid the chaos, jail officials said 900 inmates managed to escape from two prisons in Nepal’s western districts.
