Renewing its concern over the arrests of demonstrators during the general strike carried out by the seven opposition political parties since last week, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in Nepal on Wednesday asked the government to respect the right of the people to protest peacefully.

“OHCHR-Nepal is very concerned at reports of further arrests today in Kathmandu and Pokhara of people seeking to hold peaceful demonstrations, and continues to call on the Government to respect this right,” OHCHR-Nepal’s spokesperson Kieran Dwyer said in a statement.

Dwyer further said, “While it seems that violence has abated in many places today, by both demonstrators and the police, OHCHR-Nepal remains concerned at the grossly disproportionate use of force by police on Tuesday, and calls on the Government to ensure that police and security forces fully meet their obligations in this regard should demonstrations continue.”

Detention conditions for the hundreds of people take into custody from protest rallies are seriously unsatisfactory, Dwyer pointed out, informing that OHCHR observers were still visiting and monitoring the condition of those many people injured by police in recent days.

The UN rights body has been constantly expressing concern over the use of excessive force by the government’s security forces to frustrate the seven parties’ demonstrations.

Five pro-democracy activists have been killed, hundreds injured and over 1000 have been arrested from protests around the country since last week. nepalnews.com mk Apr 12 06