About 2000 students took to the streets of Kathmandu, capital of Nepal on Christmas Day to protest against the king as well as the massacre of 11 people by a soldier.A soldier went on the rampage on December 14 at a Hindu festival at Nagarkot and then killed himself.



The demonstrations were called by an alliance of eight student unions.”Our protest is against the massacre of 11 people at Nagarkot (on the outskirts of Kathmandu) and autocracy in Nepal,” the general secretary of the Nepal Students Union, Badri Pandey, said.”We are also protesting against the undemocratic moves of the king.”



The protests began in the busy Min Bhawan locality and later converged into a mass meeting in another part of the capital.The students chanted slogans against King Gyanendra and the army such as “We want democracy!”; “Down with autocracy!” and “Down with army killings!” as they marched through the busy streets of Kathmandu, disrupting traffic.Dozens of riot police kept watch but took no action.



The students and political parties have for months been protesting against King Gyanendra’s power grab on February 1, when he sacked a four-party coalition government for failing to curb a Maoist insurgency, control corruption or hold general elections.



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