Thousands of people roaring "Down with the monarchy" demonstrated Tuesday and state employees were arrested for the first time in a two-week wave of anti-royal protests shaking Nepal.
The demonstration came as Karan Singh, India's new special envoy to Nepal, warned unrest was "spinning out of control" on the eve of his departure for Kathmandu for talks with King Gyanendra and political party leaders.
An international aid worker estimated over 20,000 people turned out in the western town of Nepalgunj to demand that the king give up his absolute powers, although a local journalist claimed the crowd was far bigger.
"Thousands of people shouting anti-monarchy slogans took to the streets, bringing the town to a standstill," said journalist Janak Pandey. Police briefly fired tear gas and blank rounds but were vastly outnumbered and fled, he said.
The crowd attacked a construction site named after the king in the town 500 kilometres (300 miles) from Kathmandu
"This is the biggest demonstration I have ever seen in Nepalgunj," Pandey said by telephone.
In the capital Kathmandu, at least 25 government employees were arrested for demonstrating, police said.
"Twenty-five workers from the Home Ministry were rounded up for protesting against the government," said a police officer on condition of anonymity.
Home ministry spokesman Gopendra Pandey confirmed the arrests, but said he did not know to which ministry they belonged.
Nepal has been crippled by a general strike organised by opposition parties in concert with Maoist rebels demanding Gyanendra restore multi-party democracy.
Leaders of the seven-party alliance said a massive demonstration planned for Thursday in the capital would go ahead despite a ban on protests.
"We're planning to bring over 500,000 people onto the streets," Yogesh Bhattarai, a Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist) protest leader, told AFP.
Hardships caused by the strike eased slightly Tuesday as more shops opened in the capital on the 13th day of the anti-royal campaign. Pouring rain reduced the number of activists on the streets and more vehicles were out.
"We do not want to interfere in the internal affairs of any other country but the situation in Nepal seems to be spinning out of control," said its newly appointed envoy Singh, who was due to travel Wednesday Kathmandu as a representative of India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
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