King of Nepal Orders Protesters Shot on Site

One of the stories being widely circulated right now is that the King of Nepal has ordered that protesters would be shot on site. What the headline does not say, is that Nepal is in the midsts of a civil war with Maoist rebels. And that no protesters have, in fact, been shot on site!Guardian:

Protesters demanding a return to democracy postponed a rally that had been expected to draw thousands on Saturday, after the king imposed an all-day curfew and ordered violators shot on sight.

One person was killed and at least two wounded when security forces fired at demonstrators in Pokhara, a resort town 125 miles west of the capital, Katmandu, said Gangadhar Baral, who was among those wounded.

"We were protesting and some of us were throwing stones at the soldiers. Suddenly, the soldiers fired shots at us. One of my friends was killed instantly,'' Baral said. He spoke from the town's main hospital.

Wait a minute...you were throwing stones? What exactly did you think the response of the soldiers would be? Throw stones back?

And why the imposition of the restrictions?

The rebels bombed government buildings and attacked a jail in the southwestern town of Taulihawa on Friday night, freeing 104 prisoners, officials said. Insurgents also attacked security bases in the nearby town of Butwal.

Officials said the curfew was in response to information that the rebels would try to infiltrate the rallies and wage terror attacks against government targets.

I don't have enough information to make a judgement whether of not the King of Nepal was justified in overthrowing the government there--my gut feeling is that he didn't--but since when have Maoists ever respected democracy? Overthrowing a pro-Western King and replacing him with an anti-Western Maoist dictator is never a good move.

Impending geek alert: Interestingly enough, last night's episode of Dr. Who featured a Prime Minister of England ordering the Doctor shot on site. Which is neither here nor there, but I just figured you ought to know a little about Macktastick Rusty Wicked's geek factor. It's off the scale.

Posted by: Rusty at 08:57 AM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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