Activists torched dozens of vehicles and attacked a senior politician in Kathmandu on Saturday in protest against an increase in prices of petroleum products, police and witnesses said. Police used batons to break up protests as hundreds of people also burned tyres and stopped traffic in the city, a police officer said.
Dozens of protesters threw rocks and broke window panes of the home of Madhav Kumar Nepal, head of the Communist Party of Nepal (UML), the second biggest group in the multi-party government. But the leader was unhurt, his family said.
Activists in the city, home to 1.5 million people, demanded the multi-party government - formed in April after King Gyanendra was forced to relinquish power - roll back the increase which was announced late on Friday.
The interim government raised retail prices of petroleum products by up to 38 percent saying it was necessary to cut the losses of Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC), the state-owned oil importing monopoly.
Eight unions considered close to the Maoist rebels, including those of students, labourers, peasants, women and teachers, warned the government of more protests if it did not revoke its decision.
"The government has once again taken an anti-people step. There is still time to reduce the price immediately and correct the mistake," they said in a joint statement.
"Withdraw the price increase. We don't accept it," shouted protesters, mainly student activists, as traffic on major roads in the temple-studded city came to a standstill.
They said higher fuel prices would increase transport costs for food and other commodities in the landlocked mountainous nation, which largely depends on road links.
"The government is not sensitive about the problems of the common people," said Basu Acharya, a student activist, standing near black smoke from burning tyres in front of a Kathmandu college. Dozens of riot police stood nearby but did not intervene.
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