Tens of thousands of people joined a major demonstration organised by the seven opposition political parties in Bharatpur in the southwestern district of Chitwan on Thursday.

General people, seven-party activists, human rights workers and professionals gathered in Bharatpur from different parts of Chitwan and neighbouring Nawalparasi district in the afternoon and defied the curfew orders imposed in the town, reports said.

The demonstrators who assembled to protest the government clampdown on seven-party agitations around the country in recent days chanted slogans demanding ‘total democracy’ and end to ‘royal autocracy’.

The Chitwan demonstration is said to be biggest in recent days after the launching of nationwide general strike by the seven-party alliance on April 6. Local leaders of the alliance claimed more than 100,000 participated in the rally.

Unlike in the past, security forces did not intervene into the mass rally even as it defied the curfew orders, reports added. nepalnews.com mk Apr 13 06