Kathmandu: News about the Gen Z Protest in Nepal: Today, Gen Z protestors used vandalism and arson in several locations around the small Himalayan country of Nepal, pushing the KP Sharma Oli administration to the breaking point. Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli’s decision to lift the social media ban, which was a major catalyst for the national demonstrations, in response to the “demand of Gen-Z” has caused the protests to intensify.
The private homes of Prime Minister Oli and President Ram Chandra Poudel were set on fire by protesters. Videos of protesters wandering around and damaging the president’s home surfaced on social media. Protesters also destroyed the homes of former Nepali Prime Ministers Sher Bahadur Deuba and Pushpa Kamal Dahal, better known as Prachanda, and Energy Minister Deepak Khadka.
Additionally, protesters broke into the Nepali Parliament and burned the structure down.
A growing number of ministers are leaving the administration and resigning, putting tremendous pressure on the prime minister to step down.
For the second day in a row, protesters marched through the streets and flung stones, prompting the implementation of a curfew in many areas of the nation, including the capital Kathmandu.
As the protestors’ ire went towards the administration, led by Oli, who has grown more and more unpopular, police made a hasty attempt to eject the demonstrators but seemed to be using little force.
The Reasons Behind Protests
Tens of thousands of people protested the lifting of the social media ban on Monday, which led to violent clashes with government enforcement that resulted in at least 19 fatalities. However, the strong public outcry against the prohibition demonstrated that people’s discontent extended beyond it, as they sang anti-corruption chants and denounced the unfair advantage that those in power’s children—known as nepo kids and nepo babies—get. Nepotism is the root of the term “nepo.”
While videos with hashtags like #NepoKid, #NepoBabies, and #PoliticiansNepoBabyNepal inundated social media, protesters marched through Kathmandu holding placards with chants like “Shut down corruption and not social media,” “Unban social media,” and “Youths against corruption.”
“We are protesting because our friends and young people are being slaughtered; we want justice served and the current government overthrown. According to the Associated Press, Narayan Acharya, one of the demonstrators outside the parliament building’s damaged wall on Tuesday, stated, “KP Oli should be chased away.”
“We must oppose the murders of numerous children and students that this Hitler-like KP Oli’s regime has committed, which are targeted straight at their heads. Another demonstrator, Durganah Dahal, stated, “People like us will continue to suffer as long as this government is in power.”
When protests in Nepal become violent and the army seizes control, the Hilton Hotel in Kathmandu is left burned.
The Causes of Protests
Last week, a number of popular social media platforms, such as Facebook, X, and YouTube, were prohibited in the Himalayan country for not adhering to a new registration and submission criteria set by the government. Tens of thousands of people attended the anti-ban protests in Kathmandu on Monday, and before police opened fire on the protesters, throngs gathered outside the Parliament building.
“Abolish the social media prohibition. With national flags in hand, the throng screamed, “Stop corruption, not social media.” The protest of Gen Z, which commonly refers to those born between 1996 and 2010, was the name given to Monday’s gathering.