Riot police barricade an area near the parliament designated for demonstrations during the final day to draft the new constitution in Kathmandu yesterday. REUTERS
Police tighten security as charter opposition grows
KATHMANDU: Nepal stepped up security in the capital and put polic on alert yes terday, anticipating trouble both inside parliament and on the streets because of planned protests by the opposition against Ad governing coalition plans to push through a draft of a new constitution Chief government administrator ofKath- mandu Ek Narayan Aryal said thousands of police officers in riot gear and armed with bamboo batons were guarding the area around the Constitution Assembly and areas of the capital Kathmandu. Protests have been banned in the assem bly hall area and police warned that viola- tors would be arrested The Himalayan nation has been attempting to draft a constitution since electing its first Constituent Assembly in 2008. The current assembly was chosen in 2013 but disagreements among the parties continue to hamper progress. The opposition has vowed to block the governing coalition's plan to push through the new constitution, saying it should be only with a consensus of done all the parties. politicians On Tuesday, opposition threw chairs and attacked the parliamen- tary speaker to stop him from proposing the formation of a questionnaire commit- tee, which precedes voting on the consti- tutional draft. general The opposition also imposed a strike, shutting down schools, transport, markets and setting fire to several vehi cles. But the ruling coalition still planned to push through a draft of the new constitu- tion yesterday. "Since today is the deadline for the new constitution, we should, at least, take the procedure ahead by forming the commit- tee," said Rajan Bhattarai of the Communist Party of Nepal Unified Marxist Leninist, part of the ruling coalition. The ruling coalition makes up more than two-thirds of the 605-member assembly. enough to get the draft approved.AP