(L to r) Dhamboji, Nepalgunj where the clash occurred. File photo shows former king Birendra’s statue in the same spot earlier.
Nepalgunj, September 1
A group of youths trying to install a statue of late King Birendra Bir Bikram Shah clashed with police, in Dhamboji of Nepalgunj, Banke district, on Thursday.
When activists from Rastrabadi Yuva Samuha (Nationalist Youth Group) were installing the statue, police used force, triggering clashes in which some youths sustained injuries. Despite fighting, the youths managed to install the statue.
Earlier, there was a statue of king Birendra on the same spot. In course of the second popular movement (Jana Andolan II), the Maoist-aligned student union, ANNISU-R, had destroyed it.
In course of their protest against police, Rastravadi youths shouted slogans appealing the King to ‘come and save the nation’.
The youths said they will not let anyone remove the statue and pledged to protect it on their own.
