Nepalgunj, September 2
In the wee hours of Friday, police removed the bust of late King Birendra that Rastrabadi Yuva Samuha (Nationalist Youth Group) had installed at Dhamboji Chok, Banke district, at around 9.30 am on Thursday.
Police removed the bust, which activists from the RPP-Nepal-aligned group had installed in the name of replacing worn out national flags, at around 2 am on Friday, arresting 10 people, including RPP-Nepal (Banke) treasurer Tej Narayan Kandel, who had been staging a sit-in to prevent the removal of the statue.
They are in the custody of Jamunaha area police office. The group had plans to install at Dhamboji Chok and Tribhuvan Chok the busts of late Kings Birendra and Tribhuvan, respectively. But they had not been able to install Tribhuvan’s bust.
RPP-Nepal (Banke) President Rishi Raj Devkota said they are preparing to take out a rally against the police action. We will launch phasewise protests against this action after discussions within the party.
See also: Police use force in failed bid to prevent installation of late king Birendra’s statue
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