Nepal PM Resigns Amid Deadly Anti-Corruption Protests, Chaos On Streets
Nepal Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli resigned Tuesday afternoon after two days of violent anti-corruption agitations - led by 'Gen Z protesters' - killed 19 people and injured over 400.
Visuals showed Mr Oli leaving Kathmandu in what seemed to be a military chopper.
Mr Oli's resignation was a core demand of the Gen Z protesters. In Nepal, however, the Prime Minister standing down, however, does not automatically mean the government has fallen.
Prime Minister Oli is the head of the executive in the Himalyan nation and it is the President, who is Ram Chandra Poudel, who is the head of the governemnt. Sources, though, told NDTV, it is only a matter of time before Mr Poudel also steps down and the government is fully overthrown.
For now, the fate of the Nepali government is unclear.
There are reports the Army will step in till order is restored and a new government is installed.
If true, that will mirror unfortunate events in Sri Lanka in 2022 and Bangladesh in 2024. In both those cases anti-corruption protests forced the Mahinda Rajapaksa and Sheikh Hasina's governments to fall,
And, in both cases, the respective militaries were deployed or became involved.
Mr Oli's resignation was confirmed hours after protesters invaded government buildings - including Parliament, the private residences of PM Oli and President Ram Chandra Poudel - and set them on fire.
Violent anti-corruption protests broke out in Nepal this week.
Visuals showed a war-like situation in capital Kathmandu, with small armies of young men and women occupying public spaces and engaged in pitched battles with the cops.
Plumes of acrid black smoke covered the cityscape. City streets were dotted with burning cars and trucks. And protesters swarmed over the walls and gates of the private residences of Prime Minister Oli.
READ | Nepal PM, President's Houses Set On Fire As Protests Spiral
A protest that began 24 hours ago afrer a ban on social media platforms, including Facebook, X, and YouTube, quickly spiralled into a condemnation of corruption in the Nepali government.
Protesters clashed with Nepal Police on Monday and Tuesday.
"Stop the ban on social media. Stop corruption, not social media," protesters shouted.
Mr Oli's government rolled back the ban but that was not enough to placate protesters.
Hundreds took to the streets shouting slogans about corruption in the administration, including allegations of nepotism, i.e., unfair advantages for the children of those in powerfil positions.
The ferocity of the protests was underlined by the city's Tribhuvan International Airport being effectively shut down, to both domestic and international services.
With the police struggling to contain, or even respond to the violence, the Army was deployed; local media outlet The Kathmandu Post said members of the government - those who have not yet resigned or distanced themselves from the corruption-accused - are being evacuated.
They carried placards with slogans like 'shut down corruption and not social media', 'unban social media', and 'youths against corruption' as they marched through Kathmandu, while videos with hashtags like #NepoBabies, and #PoliticiansNepoBabyNepal flooded social media.
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