Nepal Maoists end crippling strike amid growing opposition - Summary

Kathmandu - Nepal's former Maoist rebels ended a six-day-old strike on Friday, faced with growing opposition and escalating threats of large-scale violence.

The Maoists had called the nationwide general strike on Sunday, vowing to continue it until their demands for the government to step down were met.

"There have been conspiracies to discredit our strike by making people fight each other," Maoist chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal said. "In view of such conspiracies, possible violence as well as calls from various sectors, our party has withdrawn the strike."

The Maoists would, however, proceed with other forms of anti- government protests, Dahal said.

Earlier Friday, an estimated 25,000 people gathered in central Kathmandu demanding that the Maoists end their strike immediately.

"Our patience is running out," Kush Kumar Joshi, president of the Nepalese Business Association, told the crowd. "We don't want confrontation, but want the Maoists to realize that they cannot hold the entire country hostage."

The rally was the biggest anti-Maoist protest since the former rebels had launched the strike, which closed down factories, shops, banks and schools and halted all ground transport.

The demonstrators clashed with Maoist supporters in several parts of the city. Baton-wielding riot police fired live ammunition into the air and used tear gas to separate the two sides.

A day earlier, violence had also flared up in several parts of the country after local residents, fed up with the strike, clashed with Maoist supporters.

The government said it imposed a curfew in three towns as the violence escalated.

The Maoists gave up fighting government forces in 2006, ending a decade-long communist insurgency that killed at least 14,000 people.

However, the latest political crisis has raised fears of a return to a full-scale conflict.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/322550,nepal-maoists-end-crippling-strike-amid-growing-opposition--summary.html.