Maoist students will boycott the next Wednesday’s Tribhuvan University postponed student union elections amid threats to forcibly disrupt it.

Maoist students surrounded the Vice Chancellor’s Office at Kirtipur Sunday demanding an interim coalition union pending fresh elections. Maoist student loyalists said the University has not fulfilled five demands including the release of their colleagues, free medical for students injured during an emergency to quell a Maoist rebellion and non-interference in campuses by security personnel.

University authorities have vowed to go ahead with the elections first postponed in March under rebel pressure. Seven student unions protesting price hikes of POL products insist the elections must be held as scheduled; they charge the Maoists for attempting to scuttle the union elections for fear of losing the vote.

Rebel students said they will support the protests against the price hike until April 23, the date for the elections, and will only lend their “active support’ thereafter. nepalnews.com br April 14