By Our Reporter

The much-talked-about mass meeting of the pro-monarchy forces on March 28 could not convene as violence erupted before it began.

The area near the venue of the mass meeting at Tinkune which was allotted for the pro-monarchy groups turned into battlefields with arsons by the agitating supporters of the former king and firing by the police. After police fired tear gas at a tent where senior leaders, including Nawaraj Subedi, were sitting to address the gathering, everything went wrong. The angry demonstrators (?) or the ruling parties penitrated youths (?) set two buildings on fire trapping a camera person in one of them, who burnt to death. Another man from Kirtipur was shot dead by police.

After police fired tear gas, which the demonstrators said was done from a balcony of a building, the proposed mass meeting was disrupted.  The angry participants of the rally then went berserk setting the building and another on fire killing cameraman Suresh Rajak inside. They pelted stones at several buildings, smashing their window panes. They also smashed windows of the buildings of Kantipur Television and Annapurna Post. They set government vehicles, including that belonging to lawmaker Santosh Pariyar of Rastriya Swatantra Party and looted the Bhatbhateni store of Koteshwor.  They also set fire to the office of the Unified Socialist at Aloknagar.

Worst was the arson they committed at the Herbal Processing Centre of Jaributi in which medicines worth millions of rupees, its building and seven vehicles were burnt down.

The damages were massive, which were rare in Kathmandu for over two decades, especially after the royal palace massacre of 2001.

After the rally became violent, the royalists blamed the police for the incident while the government accused the former king of the destruction. Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, while addressing the parliament on Monday, said that the former king was responsible for the violence. Almost all leaders of the pro-republican forces have accused the former king of instigating the violence. But the supporters of the king and even the leaders of the Rastriya Prajatantra party have outright rejected this.

The participants of the rally argued that the violence erupted after police fired tear gas targeting the dias of Tinkune. Likewise, they said the infiltration of supporters of the Yuwa Sangh of the UML and police in the rally turned it violent. But police and government said that the situation was spoiled by Durga Prasai, the commander of the rally, after he drove his car towards the police prompting police to disperse the crowd by using force.  

Parsai has been on the run since then, and the rally without its leaders went violent. The government later in the night arrested RPP vice chairman Rabindra Mishra and General Secretary Dhawal Shumsher Rana as well as Swagat Nepal and kept Nawaraj Subedi in a house arrest condition. Police also arrested others including those who looted the Bhatbhateni Supermarket of Koteshwor.

Now the government has threatened to book even the former king for the Tinkune arson and killing. However, RPP and the pro-king leaders have been challenged to do so.

Meanwhile, local witnesses and also political observers opine that the government, specially Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli and Home Minister Ramesh Lekhak, are responsible for the Tinkune violence and killing of two youths, injuring dozens of people.    

After Friday's incident, RPP has decided to continue its protests to restore the Hindu Kingdom while Jagman Gurung has been named coordinator in place of Subedi to continue the agitation which was disturbed on Friday.

Gurung led a peace rally on Wednesday morning organised for peace of the departed souls of the two youths killed on Friday's demonstration.