Curfew imposed in Kathmandu to end riots
Curfew imposed in Kathmandu to end riots
KATHMANDU (Reuters): Rioting broke out in Nepal's capital on
Monday just hours after a new king was crowned following the
massacre of almost the entire royal family.
Armed police used teargas and batons to hold back an angry mob
surging towards the royal palace clamoring to know how King
Birendra, Queen Aishwarya and six of their closest relatives were
killed last Friday night.
Authorities quickly imposed an overnight curfew and warned
police could shoot anyone caught violating it.
Although newly crowned King Gyanendra promised a full
investigation, Nepalis said they were angry that no-one had yet
come up with a convincing explanation for Friday's bloodbath.
Officials first blamed the Crown Prince, who was fatally
wounded and died on Monday, and then said the royals died after
an automatic weapon accidentally exploded.
"What has happened is not good. There are a lot of unanswered
questions as to how the king, queen and Crown Prince Dipendra
died," said one shopkeeper, who declined to be named.
"It is difficult to believe that the son shot his parents.
There is more than meets the eye," he added.
Youths, many with heads shaved in the Hindu mark of mourning,
burned tires and shouted slogans demanding the truth. Several
hundred people on motorbikes, carrying big portraits of the king
and queen, briefly joined the mob at the palace and then whizzed
off again to another part of the city.
Soldiers were brought in to guard the palace gates, and the
crowd retreated behind police barriers, leaving a litter of shoes
and slippers on the street.
Birendra's son and heir Dipendra died on Monday after being
in a coma since Friday night's massacre.
He was to be cremated later on Monday in a lonely funeral with
the curfew expected to keep away all but official mourners.
"During the curfew period, people should not go out of their
homes or compound," the Kathmandu district administration office
said in a notice read over state radio. "It will be enforced from
4 p.m. (5 p.m. in Jakarta) today until Tuesday morning."
"If anyone violates the curfew, police can imprison them for
one month or even shoot," the radio said.
Officials had initially suggested that Dipendra had shot his
family after what media reports said was a family row over his
choice of a bride. But they later said they did not know what had
happened behind the walls of the palace.
Ballistics experts said the latest official explanation of an
automatic gun which exploded by accident was implausible.
"I have never heard of an automatic weapon going off by itself
before," said Paul Beaver, defense analyst at British military
publication company Jane's.
Dipendra had been proclaimed king despite the coma on Saturday
and on his death on Monday, Gyanendra was named Nepal's third
king in four days.
Gyanendra, who was out of town at the time of the killings,
was crowned in a hastily convened ceremony at the old Monkey Gate
palace -- the traditional seat of the ruling Shah dynasty.
Drizzle fell on the ceremony as an elderly royal priest placed
a white-plumed golden crown on Gyanendra's head.
Clad in traditional Nepali dress -- a short kurta and cream
colored pants and jacket -- the 54-year-old king sat on a raised
golden throne with a carved head of the king cobra.
He later left in a royal chariot drawn by six white horses led
by a military band and red-liveried cavalry.
Thousands of spectators lined the three km procession route,
some clapping but most looking somber. King Gyanendra sat
unsmiling, occasionally nodding to the crowd.
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