'Gen Z' group demands arrest of Nepal's ousted PM Oli over shootout that killed 19 protesters

KATHMANDU: The 'Gen Z' group on Saturday demanded the arrest of deposed prime minister K P Sharma Oli and then home minister Ramesh Lekhak over their alleged role in a shootout that killed 19 people during the anti-government protests on September 8.

Addressing a press conference at Sambad Dabali here, Dr Nicholas Bushal, one of the advisers to the Gen Z group that spearheaded the protests, said Oli, Lekhak and Chief District Officer of Kathmandu Chhabi Rijal should be arrested immediately as they were directly responsible for the shootout at Naya Baneshwor in which 19 activists were killed.

Bhushal also demanded the formation of a high-level probe commission to investigate the wealth of all high-ranking leaders and government officials since 1990.

Separately, the Gen Z activists also organised a sit-in demanding Oli and Lekhak's arrest at Maitighar Mandala near Singhdurbar Secretariat in Kathmandu, from where they started their protest rally on September 8.

At least 72 people, including three policemen, were among the dead during the violent protests against alleged corruption and a ban on social media on September 8 and 9.

On Friday, the former prime minister denied that he had given any shooting orders during the Gen Z demonstrations, saying bullets were fired at protesters from automatic guns that the police did not possess and called for a probe into the matter.

In his first public statement since his ouster, the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist) chairman blamed the infiltrators for the violence during the "peaceful protest" by Gen-Z.

"The government didn't order to shoot at the demonstrators," 73-year-old Oli said in a message issued on the occasion of Constitution Day.

"The bullets were fired at the protesters from automatic guns, which were not possessed by the police personnel, and this must be investigated," Oli said.

Oli quit on September 9 shortly after hundreds of agitators entered his office demanding his resignation.

Meanwhile, Supreme Court Chief Justice Prakash Man Singh Raut on Saturday said that the apex court had not issued an order to ban social media sites.

"The Supreme Court had not ordered the government to shut down social media sites," CJ Raut said while talking to the media in Kathmandu.

The apex court had urged the government to regularise the social media sites through formulating necessary laws which is a normal international practice, he said.

The Oli-led government had banned 26 social media sites citing the Supreme Court's order, which sparked protests from the Gen Z group on September 8. The ban on social media was lifted on the night of September 8.

On September 12, former chief justice Sushila Karki took oath as Nepal's first woman prime minister to lead an interim government.