Thousands of people gathered in Basantapur Darbar Square on Friday morning for the peace rally organized by various human rights, civil society and professional organisations.
Even though the message of the peace rally was to demand the political parties to resolve their differences, the rally was charged with anger against the banda still being enforced by the Maoists.
During the impromptu march that followed the gathering, there were small skirmishes with the Maoists camped on various road intersections.
On Exhibition Road, the police fired a dozen teargas shells to separate the peace rally participants and the Maoists supporters.
Young Communist League members made a human chain in Sundhara to stop the peace rally from proceeding.
In the morning, Maoist supporters prevented groups of people in Bagbazar and Kupandole from attending the rally, the organisers said. In Kupandole, the situation was tense for a while following a small confrontation between the two groups.
Meanwhile, the United States has asked the Maoists to withdraw the strike which is on its sixth day today. “The Maoist-imposed strike in Nepal is creating serious hardships for the people of Nepal and the risk of dangerous confrontation is growing,” said Robert O. Blake, the US assistant secretary, Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs, in a statement issued today.
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