Gagan Thapa, a popular student leader and former General Secretary of the Nepali Congress-affiliated Nepal Students Union, who led many anti-King demonstrations in the past, was arrested by policemen in plain clothes from his residence Tuesday. Party sources said the police did not have an arrest warrant.
Yesterday, police arrested Nepal Students Union President Keshav Singh from the party office of the Communist Party of Nepal-UML (CPN-UML), where he had gone to attend a condolence meeting.
About 25 armed securitymen in plainclothes, their faces covered with 'anti-pollution masks' "forcibly" entered the party office "to search some wanted student leaders" without any notice and ransacked the office, said CPN-UML spokesman Pradip Nepal. They also misbehaved with the party workers and threatened to arrest some of them, he claimed.
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This "illegal act" of the government was "deplorable", said former Prime Minister Surya Bahadur Thapa.
Condemning the incident, the CPN-UML in a statement asked the government to stop such "irresponsible and anti-democratic activities."
The party also appealed for all to unitedly move ahead against the February one takeover of absolute power by King Gyanendra.
The opposition parties have planned massive anti-King protests on May Day.
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