http://digbig.com/4hfxf
Jeannie Shawl
"AP is reporting that Nepal's King Gyanendra [official profile; BBC profile] has said that executive power "shall be returned to the people from this day forward." Gyanendra's statement follows a last attempt to put an end to pro-democracy protests [JURIST news archive] against Gyanendra's rule by imposing an 11-hour curfew in the city of Kathmandu. The shoot-on-sight curfew had little effect however, as more than 100,000 protesters gathered on the outskirts of the city in the 16th day of protests. Last week, Gyanendra promised to hold general elections [JURIST report] by April 2007 and to open a dialogue with opposition parties, but his speech had little effect as he has made similar pledges in the past. Nepalese police have fired on protesters [JURIST report] with increasing frequency in the past few days, prompting a group of UN human rights experts to condemn the use of excessive and deadly force [JURIST report] to try and quell the demonstrations."
