Supporters of Nepal’s CPN-UML staged protests in Kathmandu and Pokhara on Saturday, demanding the release of party Chairman and former Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli after his arrest earlier in the day from his residence in Gundu.
According to the report, UML leaders and supporters gathered in the Maitighar area on Saturday afternoon and marched toward Babarmahal, chanting slogans in support of Oli. During the protest, demonstrators burned tires on the main road at Babarmahal and damaged a private vehicle by shattering its windows.
Some protesters later moved from Babarmahal toward the southern gate of Singha Durbar, while others remained in the area and continued their agitation. By the afternoon, UML workers had also taken to the streets in Pokhara to press for Oli’s release.
After the arrest of Oli on Friday, the CPN-UML Central Secretariat held a meeting and decided to challenge the move through both political and legal means.
Oli’s arrest came a day after a major shift in Nepal’s political landscape. Police on Friday also detained former Home Minister Ramesh Lekhak after the newly formed government, in its first cabinet meeting, decided to implement the findings of an inquiry commission led by Gauri Bahadur Karki.
Home Minister Sudan Gurung said the arrests of Oli and Lekhak were not acts of revenge, but part of the government’s effort to enforce the commission’s recommendations.
The commission had investigated the crackdown on the Gen Z protests held on Sept. 7-8 and later submitted its report to the interim government led by Sushila Karki.
The report recommended moving forward with criminal investigations against Oli, Lekhak, and former police chief Chandrakuber Khapung. Friday’s cabinet decision to immediately act on those findings led to swift police action against the former officials.
The arrests and the protests that followed mark a major political escalation in Nepal, with UML now preparing both street demonstrations and legal resistance as the government moves ahead with action linked to the September protest crackdown.
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