NEPAL: An alliance of Nepal's seven main political parties called for a general strike in Kathmandu today, to protest against the killing of 12 civilians by a soldier after a row with villagers.
"We have called on businesses, factories and schools to close to protest the killing of innocent people," said Subash Nemwang, a leader of the Communist Party of Nepal-UML, the country's second-biggest party.
Mr Nemwang said the government headed by King Gyanendra, who seized power and dismissed the government on February 1st, was responsible for the deaths of villagers who had gathered near a temple in the tourist town of Nagarkot. A Nepali soldier killed 11 people and wounded 19 after an argument. One of the injured died later in hospital.
The army said the soldier also died in the incident. State television said the government would pay for hospital treatment and pay $2,000 in compensation for each of the dead.
The strike call came as thousands marched through the streets of Kathmandu in a protest against the king, which turned into a show of solidarity for the relatives of those killed.
Nearer the site of the killings, 2,000 people burned tyres and protested. "You can't just kill people," they shouted outside a hospital where the bodies of the victims were taken for postmortem examinations.
Human rights groups say the poorly trained Nepali army regularly commits human rights abuses in its battle to quell a Maoist rebellion.
More than 12,500 people have died in the anti-monarchy conflict, which has also shattered Nepal's aid- and tourist-dependent economy.