Nepal burns, cornered KP Sharma Oli calls all-party meet as anti-govt protests take increasingly dangerous turn

Nepal Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli issued calls for an urgent all-party meeting as the country’s political turmoil took a turn for the worse on September 9, with student-led protests sweeping across regions in defiance of curfews and escalating security crackdowns.

Oli announced the meeting for Tuesday evening, though the location was not disclosed. In a brief statement, he appealed for calm, stressing that dialogue was the only path forward, news agency PTI reported.

“Violence is not the way. We need to find a peaceful way out through dialogue,” he said. At the time of writing this report, the unrest was showing no sign of abating. Worse, the situation was only turning more and more dangerous by the hour.

Demonstrators, most of them young Nepalis, dismissed Home Minister Ramesh Lekhak’s resignation on Monday as insufficient. They insisted Oli himself must step down, arguing that leadership failures extend beyond the ministry.

The protests, triggered by the government’s controversial ban on social media sites, spiralled after police opened fire on crowds in Kathmandu and other cities. At least 19 people were killed and more than 300 injured, in what has been described as one of the deadliest days in Nepal’s recent history. Public anger deepened as reports emerged of indiscriminate use of force. Prominent media outlets condemned the government’s response.Ukeraa.com labelled 8 September a “black day,” noting it marked the highest number of protester deaths in a single day in the country. Ratopati, another widely read news portal, accused authorities of “cowardly action” and denounced the shootings as “highly deplorable.”

According to local analysts, what sets this movement apart is its character. Unlike the power struggles of Nepal’s recent past, the agitation is not being driven by political parties. Instead, it is the discontent of young citizens — fuelled by anger over corruption, unemployment, nepotism and a sense of growing disorder — that has taken centre stage.