Security Forces Crush Human Rights Day Demonstration in Nepal

In Nepal, on International Human Rights Day this past Saturday, police used water canons and unnecessary force to arrest 130 activists, trade union leaders and academics who tried to conduct a protest in Kathmandu’s Ratna Park.

The protest, led by a multi-NGO coalition called Citizens’ Movement for Democracy and Peace, was to focus attention on continued restrictions on freedom of speech and assembly imposed by King Gyanendra’s suspension of the government and his imposition of authoritarian rule last February. Ratna Park in Kathmandu’s city centre is declared a restricted area by Nepalese authorities.

The head of the UN’s Human Rights office in Nepal, Ian Martin, on the occasion of the 10 December observance of the UN’s 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, said that the number of torture cases by security forces in the Himalayan country has shown no sign of letting up over the past several months.