Nepal: Protesters clash with police over chariot procession, hundreds defy COVID lockdown

On September 3, several hundred protesters participating in the religious festival defying Nepal’s coronavirus lockdown in a city south of the capital clashed with the riot police, an ANI report confirmed. Protesters gathered in Lalitpur where a 5-storey-high chariot holding a statue of the deity Rato Machindranath was kept but the annual religious festival was stopped due to the coronavirus lockdown. Generally, as the statue was taken around the city for a month, protesters attempted to drag it out as police officers blocked them to move the chariot, resulting in a violent clash that injured many. While protesters hurled stones at the riot police, officers retaliated with water cannon attacks and fired tear gas as the confrontation went on for several hours. 

Angered at the government’s restrictive orders to halt the festival around for over 1,350 years in Nepal to appease gods for rainfall, harvest, and prosperity, the mob erupted in the violent engagement with the Police in the cobblestone alleys of the city. As per the Nepal government's instructions, the outdoor festivals and religious gatherings have been banned for months in view of the surge in the coronavirus caseload in the country. Nepalese authorities issued orders in March that prohibited any religious activities where mob assembly was concerned in Kathmandu and surrounding districts. However, the citizens registered grievances with the government over the chariot procession, citing an age-long norm that eroded religious sentiments. 

[Protesters had gathered in the city of Lalitpur where a 5-story-high chariot holding a statue of the deity Rato Machindranath was built but parked. Credit: AP]

[Nepalese protesters defying a government coronavirus lockdown to take part in a religious festival clash with riot police, in Lalitpur, Nepal.Credit: AP]

Despite no official permission, a mob of around 800 religious devotees assembled in the Pulchowk area in Lalitpur to pull the Rato Machindranath Jatra’s statue around the city, ANI quoted Senior Superintendent Tek Prasad Rai, chief of Lalitpur Metropolitan Police Range as saying. Complying to the prohibitory official orders, the police stopped the mob from taking the chariot out of the parking area. While the mob outnumbered the police officers, the use of coercion led to the full-blown out clashes between the protesters and the police officers. "Since people had arrived in huge numbers, police alone were unable to control the crowd. So we sought the help of the Nepal Army,” chief of Lalitpur Metropolitan Police Range told ANI. “Armed forces personnel had managed to disperse assemble and turn the mob away, but they later gathered in huge number in the afternoon," Rai added. 

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Procession co-ordinator denies involvement

Meanwhile, the Lalitpur District Administration Office renewed the prohibitory orders, extending it for another week in consultation with the district administration offices of Kathmandu and Bhaktapur, banning all non-non-essential movement, as per local media reports. While the Machindranath chariot procession was scheduled to be held on April 24, 2020, it was initially postponed as Nepal entered the strict lockdown around March 24 to stem the novel coronavirus spread. The procession co-ordinator, Chandra Maharjan, was quoted by ANI as saying, “We were in a meeting with a committee in charge of the festival when we heard that people were pulling the chariot. We were not part of what happened earlier today.” Clarifying the organizers’ role in the violent clashes, Maharjan said in the press, “Today's incident does not involve the main stakeholders and we do not recognize those who attempted to pull the chariot.”

[Police officers in riot gear blocked the protesters when they moved the chariot, dousing them with water cannons. Protesters destroy the police vehicle. Credit: AP]

[Nepalese police fire teargas as protesters. Credit: AP]

[People drag a metal frame to create a barricade during a protest. Credit: AP]

[The clash continued for hours and spread to the small cobblestone alleys in the city, which is south of the capital, Kathmandu. Credit: AP]

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(With ANI Inputs)

(Images Credit: AP)