Nepal protests: Students take to the streets over Govt’s COVID-19 response

Over 500 students came out on the streets of Kathmandu to protest against the “inefficient” handling of the COVID-19 situation by the country’s Prime Minister, K P Sharma Oli’s government.

The students called out the government for their corrupt practices and minimal support amidst the surging cases of coronavirus. The protesters said that there was “lack of support and initiatives” to local businesses who were going through a major economic crisis. They further criticized the government for not taking adequate steps to deal with unemployment.

Protesters demanded the current government to maintain transparency and accountability in all COVID related expenses and budget allocations.

Other parts of Nepal also saw similar protests demanding PCR tests, better protection facilities for frontline healthcare workers, legally-binding protection against discrimination in suspected or positive COVID-19 cases along with dignity and relief measures for daily wage workers, migrants and poor and marginalized communities.

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Nepal had imposed a complete lockdown in March 2020, however, the total cases continued to rise. The country has around 6000 cases till now with 19 deaths so far.

Oli’s government took over the office in Nepal on 15 February 2018 for the second time and completed two years in power in 2020. In the last decade, no other government was able to complete two years of being in power. Recently on June 13, the government of Nepal received support from the opposition in the parliament to grant constitutional status to the updated map of the country.