Kathmandu gripped by sudden strike

The one-day genezal strike in the Kathmandu valley was called by NC youth bodies late Saturday after security personnel prevented Koirala, a former prime minister, from boarding a flight to western Nepal earlier in the day.

Koirala was supposed to board a Buddha Air flight to the town of Bhairahawa where he was to attend a party meeting but security personnel at the domestic terminal of the Tribhuvan International Airport turned him away, the NC claims.

It said no reasons were given for the action.

The chief spokesman of the Royal Nepalese Army (RNA), Rajendra Bahadur Thapa, apolgised for the incident and said it occurred because Koirala did not inform the authorities in advance that he was travelling to Bhairahawa.

"The security personnel at the Tribhuvan International Airport did not recognise that the person in a vehicle with black windows was Koirala and directed the vehicle towards the taxi stand," Thapa said.

"No misbehavio}r was done to him but we regret the incident," he added.

Almost all shops in the Kathmandu Valley, home to some 1.5 million people, were shuttered Sunday while educational institutions were closed due to the strike.

Only a few vehicles were operating on the streets of Kathmandu, witnesses said.

"Several vehicles were damaged by the protestors Sunday morning but so far no one has been arrested," a police spokesman said.

Hundreds of NC supporters and activists had staged protests in Kathmandu Saturday as news of the incident spread.

The Nepal Bar Association representing local lawyers criticised the incident, saying that it was an infringement of civil rights of people to move freely within the country.