Kathmandu: Protestors torched homes and clashed with police in western Nepal on Tuesday, a day after an 18-month-old boy and seven police died in violent demonstrations against a new constitution.
Hundreds of demonstrators vandalised buildings in the town of Tikapur, 420 kilometres west of Kathmandu, defying an indefinite curfew imposed after protesters attacked police with spears, axes and knives.
“Small clashes have occurred today with a few groups defying the curfew,” said Dhan Bahadur Kathayat, deputy superintendent of Tikapur police.
“They torched a couple of houses, but our teams have put out the fires,” Kathayat said.
Police said they were taken by surprise by the scale of the violence on Monday, when demonstrators turned on security forces, killing seven and prompting the government to send troops to the area.
The 18-month-old son of paramilitary officer Netra Bahadur Saud was also killed when protesters opened fire at his home in Tikapur, but police said there were no casualties among the demonstrators.
“My son was playing in front of me, all of a sudden I heard bullet fire,” Saud said.
“Within seconds my son fell to the ground with head injuries ... I rushed him to hospital but he was already dead.
“The shooters targeted me ... my son was innocent. Why was he killed?” he said.
Anger has been building for weeks in parts of Nepal after lawmakers struck a breakthrough deal on a new constitution, spurred by April’s devastating earthquake.
The constitution was meant to cement peace after a 10-year insurgency led by former Maoist rebels and draw a line under centuries of inequality.
Work on the new constitution began in 2008, two years after the end of the insurgency that left an estimated 16,000 people dead and brought down the 240-year-old Hindu monarchy.
But plans laid out in the draft charter to divide the country into seven provinces have sparked fury among historically marginalised communities, who say the new borders will limit their political representation.
The latest clashes broke out when activists from the Tharu ethnic minority held a protest to demand their own separate province bordering India.
The Tharus have struggled to overcome decades spent as bonded slaves to high-caste landowners.
Puspa Raj KC, spokesman for the Armed Police Force, said the demonstrators outnumbered security personnel and encircled senior officers as the protest turned violent.
“During this time, it was difficult for the commanders to communicate properly with the force and no decision was made to use firearms,” he told AFP.
By the time police fired tear gas to disperse the crowd, more than 40 officers had sustained injuries according to KC, who said there were no casualties among the demonstrators.
“Security forces failed to assess the threat ... no one expected an attack using such a huge number of home-made weapons,” he said.
Police have shot dead three people protesting in other parts of the country against the terms of the constitution in separate incidents over the course of the month.
As top leaders held talks with Tharu lawmakers in the capital, hundreds of troops and police patrolled the streets of Tikapur.
The violence came a day after Nepalese lawmakers presented a revised draft of the new constitution in parliament despite opposition from some parties.
Former Maoist premier, Baburam Bhattarai, criticised the government’s decision to deploy the army and tweeted, “we have to find political solutions not through administrative or military means”.
India said Prime Minister Narendra Modi had spoken to his counterpart in Nepal and urged restraint, saying outstanding issues should be resolved through dialogue.
