(21 Jan 2006)

1. Wide shot of armed police in front of temples in Durbar Square, stones on ground, another stone lands nearby
2. Long shot of crowd of protestors
3. Crowd of chanting youths with Nepalese Communist Party flag
4. Wide shot of riot police chasing protesters
5. Youths throwing stones
6. Police hiding behind riot shields
7. Girls watch from rooftop
8. Wide shot of riot police charging
9. Crowd of protesters throwing stones
10. Various shots of police throwing stones back
11. Police arresting protester, protester chants
12. Various shots of protesters being held in back of truck, arrested women chants: "Down with the King, We want Democracy"
13. Various of police and protesters

STORYLINE:

Riot police fired tear gas and beat pro-democracy activists who defied a ban on rallies in the capital Saturday and protested King Gyandenra's seizure of absolute power last year.

At least 300 people were arrested and 50 injured.

Police fired several rounds of tear gas shells to disperse groups of protesters who emerged from alleyways in central Katmandu chanting "Down with autocracy, we want democracy!"

Many of the protesters hurled stones and scuffled with the police, who used bamboo batons to beat the demonstrators.

About 50 people were injured, including six police officers.

Security officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity citing official policy, said they had orders to enforce a ban on rallies in Katmandu.

The royal government has claimed it must prevent rallies because of intelligence suggesting that communist rebels plan to use them to launch attacks.

The guerrillas are fighting to replace the constitutional monarchy with a socialist government.

However, the rebels, who made an agreement with opposition political parties last year to put pressure on the king to restore democracy, said they would not disrupt the demonstration.

A National Human Rights Commission representative at the scene estimated that at least 300 protesters were loaded onto trucks and taken to detention centres.

Police cleared the square and sealed it after two hours of battling with protesters, who moved their demonstration to nearby streets and alleys.

Soldiers armed with automatic weapons closely watched the demonstration, but did not intervene.

The crackdown on rallies followed a series of raids in recent days in which security forces detained senior politicians, student leaders and rights
activists.

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