Protests Deepen Crisis in Nepal

The crisis in Nepal escalated Thursday with the fatal shooting of three protesters, as tens of thousands marched in the capital in defiance of a curfew, demanding that King Gyanendra relinquish power.

The nearly two dozen demonstrations, which brought as many as 100,000 people into the streets of Katmandu, ranged from festive democracy rallies to riots by young men who lighted bonfires and hurled bricks at police officers, demanding the death of the king.

By midday, soldiers were patrolling in armored vehicles, and at least one police post had been attacked, its windows smashed by bricks.

Thursday also saw more diplomatic pressure on Gyanendra -- whose government seems increasingly unable to control the escalating violence -- to cede the power he seized 14 months ago from an interim government.

But the focus was the demonstrations. An alliance of seven opposition parties that has organized the 15 days of protests and a general strike managed to bring as many as 100,000 people into the streets, despite a curfew imposed to head off the protests.

Although there have been bloodier days since the protests began, Thursday’s demonstrations dwarfed previous ones in the capital.

As in days past, there were also protests in other areas, and security forces fired on violent demonstrators in the country’s southwest, wounding at least 26, the Defense Ministry said.

As the Katmandu demonstrations got underway, residents in the city center -- where a heavy police presence kept most protesters at bay -- whistled and banged plates on their rooftops.

Text messages sent by cellphone encouraged Katmandu’s 1.5 million residents to rally at the city’s edge.

Many of those protests turned violent when police tried to break them up, and demonstrators parried with officers throughout the day, often tossing back tear gas canisters.

The worst violence came on the city’s western side, where police trying to keep more than 10,000 protesters from reaching the ring road opened fire with tear gas, rubber bullets and, finally, live ammunition.