Police Friday apprehended dozens of student protesters from Surya Binayak, Bhaktapur, few minutes before the students could start a talk program on “Rationale of Monarchy”, witnesses said.

Students were gathered near Dattatreya temple at the time when the police interved and arrested them, the witnesses said. They were brought to the District Administration Office, where they shouted anti-King slogans, other reports said.

Reports from Chitwan said the local police in Tandi bazaar intervened and dispersed a gathering of students who were preparing for demonstrations.

In another incident in the same district, the district administration office issued “threats” to two local FM stations, ordering them not to air any of the news related to the students’ protests, radio reports said. The two FM stations were Kalika FM and Synergy FM.

In a statement, the Federation of Nepalese Journalists has flayed the the local authorities of Chitwan, saying, it was a mischievous effort to curtail press freedom.