A crowd came in front of Kantipur TV and stones started raining, stones fell on the table of journalist friends working in the newsroom, there was panic in the newsroom.
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I reached Kantipur television station at Tinkune at 9 am, anticipating that the vehicles would not run due to Friday's Rajawadi demonstration. When coming to the office, it was seen that the police and security personnel were sitting in the streets and providing security. Public transport was less frequent. The situation in the morning was normal. Little by little, people gathered in the three corner area.
For Kantipur Television, we had planned to go live from two places (Tinkune and Maitighar Chowk) at 10:30. Our colleagues reported that people were gathering sporadically at Maitighar Chowk and Bhrikutimandap. Around 10:30 am, information came that small rallies are gathering from places towards Maitighar. It was said that the maitighar is not so crowded. By 10:30, there were hardly any people in Tinkune. It looked as if 50/100 people were gathering in a large square, but there was no appearance of a meeting here. Slowly after 12 o'clock the movement of people started to increase. We sensed that people with flags were increasing.
In front of Kantipur Television, sloganeering started after 12:30. The procession came from Tinkunne and Koteshwar. A motorcycle rally came from Chabhil. They were seen shouting slogans towards Baneshwar. The security guards were barricaded. At around 12:30 it was still running. At half past one a white car came around. Two men were seen in the car with their heads out of the window. No other vehicles were driving.
A car passed through the corner of the intersection and stopped suddenly at the place where the security guard was standing. After arguing for a while, it went on and on. After going, I found out that the vehicle belonged to Durga Prasai. Then the push started. Before that, there was no meeting or address. It was crowded with people. It was heard that 'Durga Prasain is coming'. It was assumed that the assembly would start after Prasain arrived. But Prasain did not go to the meeting place, he went forward, beating the security personnel. Where did he pass? lost
Those who were shouting slogans tried to advance towards Baneshwar. 1/2 of the people started throwing stones when the security personnel started firing. The police started chasing, throwing more and more stones. Soon the police started firing tear gas. A fire broke out in a building in Tinkune, half an hour after the tear gas was fired. Protesters burned tires everywhere. The traffic island was demolished and tires were burnt there. On the other side of the corner, they also lit a fire towards the cowshed.
After pelting stones everywhere, the protestors went towards Kantipur Television. The office of Kantipur Television is just off the main road. As they fled, the protesters took to the streets. There are two big roads and from there again small streets. There are other lanes that can be left and right. Sometimes the police use force and enter the street. A group came in front of Kantipur and started pelting stones. A stone fell on the table of journalist friends working in the newsroom. There was panic in the newsroom. All the friends hid towards the place where the stones did not come. Later, as reported in the news, Annapurna daily was vandalized and set on fire. Kantipur and Annapurna were attacked at the same time.
In just a short time, there was a heavy police presence. The police dispersed the protestors. Chased till Koteshwar. But as the protestors moved inside, they attacked new buildings and burned vehicles. They attacked from party office to Bhatbhateni supermarket. Robbed.
I was sitting in the newsroom chatting with my friends in the field, going out on the road to do live myself. Judging by the events of the whole day on Friday, the royalists had no plans to hold a meeting. Because, I don't think there was any preparation of who will say what in this meeting. A committee has been formed under the chairmanship of Navraj Subedi. The committee handed over the leadership to Durga Prasai only on Thursday for Friday's meeting. On Friday i.e. Chait 15, the meeting was announced by Durga Prasai herself. He did it before Navraj Subedi announced.
The behavior shown by Durga Prasai, it seems that she did not come for the assembly.
The protestors seen here in the rot seemed to be ready to be heard at the rally. There were very few people in the venue. All were being presented in a chaotic manner on the streets. They saw the security personnel in inciting and inciting behavior. Needless to say, the incident escalated. One journalist lost his life, another laborer also lost his life. A lot of money was lost. It was sad.
