The Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) has denied its hand in Tuesday’s violent protests in the capital, Kathmandu.

In a statement issued on Tuesday, in-charge of the Kathmandu valley bureau of the CPN (Maoist), Prabhakiran, said the Maoists did not have any protest programmes in the capital on Tuesday. “The acts of vandalism and arson were deliberately committed by some reactionary forces to tarnish the image of our party,” he added.

Meanwhile, general secretary of the CPN (UML) and a senior leader of the Seven Party Alliance (SPA), Madhav Kumar Nepal, has also urged mebers of general public to maintain restraint. He said the SPA government was working in accordance with the spirit of the people’s movement and that proclamation declaring the reinstated House of Representatives as “sovereign representative of the people and supreme body” would be adopted by the House on Thursday.

As demonstrators vandalized government vehicles and burnt tyres in the streets disrupting traffic in different parts of the capital on Tuesday, Home Minister Krishna Sitaula urged the demonstrators to maintain restraint. He also denied reports that former premier and Nepali Congress (Democratic) president Sher Bahadur Deuba had proposed that the king should continue to remain as “supreme commander in-chief” of the army. Deuba has also strongly refuted such reports.

Unruly demonstrators burnt at least four government-owned vehicles along the Bagmati bridge at Thapathali on Tuesday. The crowd then marched to Singha Durbar gate where one Dr. G. B. Shah addressed the corner meeting. He said he had formed a front called ‘Ganatantra Mancha Nepal’ (Republican Forum Nepal) after the royal proclamation of April 24.

King Gyanendra had proclaimed reinstatement of the dissolved House of Representatives last month after weeks-long nationwide protests and general strike.

There were reports of demonstrations and acts of vandalism in different parts of the city till late Tuesday. Kalanki, Imadol, Balkhu and Basundhara area remained tense. In Kalanki, angry demonstrators vandalized hoarding boards carrying slogans of King Gyanendra, In Basundhara, demonstrators chanted pro-monarchy slogans, according to eyewitnesses.

A local resident of Banasthali told Nepalnews over phone that hooligans arrived in the area in four trucks and strarted vandalizing vehicles – both government and private—from around 8 p. m. Tuesday. They abused local residents and forced them to switch off their lights. “The miscreants continued to rule the streets for over two hours leaving dozens of vehicles damaged and hundreds of people stranded. But security personnel were not seen in the area till late in the evening,” he said.