| Bhunte |
Posted
on 22-Jul-03 08:09 PM
Any updates/verification to the news below:
Nepalis stage protest at UN demanding democracy
By Akhilesh Upadhyay
NEW YORK, July 23 - As the protests go, this one didnt have much to write home about. There were no riot police barricading angry demonstrators. No one hurled stones at the police.
In fact, most of the protestors had taken a short break from work on a busy weekday and some were in their business suits.
But the demonstration on Monday by scores of New York-based Nepalis outside the United Nations headquarters and the nearby Nepal Mission quietly delivered a loud message: It was the first public protest organised by the Nepalis in the United States asking King Gyanendra to hand over executive powers back to the people.
In a show of solidarity to the agitating political parties in Nepal, the Nepalis gathered on the sidewalks on 1st Avenue and 47 Street in front of the towering United Nations building. They then converged briefly at Ralph Bunche Park on 42 Street right across the UN building before arriving at Nepal Mission on 2nd Avenue where Murari Raj Sharma, Permanent Representative at Nepal Mission to the United Nations, received their protest letters.
The protestors regretted that the king had continued to play a divide-and-rule game and had cold-shouldered major political parties. In the past nine months since he assumed executive powers, the king had offered no clear road map to the people and as a result the nation had become even more polarized, they said.
Regretfully, the King has appointed two illegitimate governments, said Anand Bist, president of Nepalese Democratic Youth Council in USA. And we now have clear indications that the peace talks with the Maoists are heading nowhere. Frankly, I dont expect much progress unless the political parties are brought into the fold. (snn)
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