Nepal's royalist government freed the country's two top political prisoners today, a sign that King Gyanendra may want to negotiate with anti-monarchy protesters who have brought the kingdom to a standstill.
But in the east, security forces opened fire on protesters in the town of Chandragadi, killing at least two people and wounding dozens.
The government also slapped a curfew on Kathmandu and neighbouring areas for tomorrow, when political parties have vowed to bring out hundreds of thousands of people on to the streets to force the king's hand. Violators of the curfew could be shot, the government said in a notice.
Madhav Kumar Nepal, general secretary of the Communist Party of Nepal (UML), and Ram Chandra Poudel, general secretary of the Nepali Congress, were freed at Kathmandu district court. Scores of supporters threw vermillion powder in the air and cheered as the two men were freed.
The two parties are the largest in a seven-party alliance fighting Gyanendra for the restoration of democracy.
Including the latest deaths, at least eight people have been killed in two weeks of crippling protests, hundreds wounded and hundreds of others arrested.