Nepal Foreign Minister Kicked, Punched In Face Amid Violent Protests

After demonstrations by 'Gen Z' protesters against corruption, nepotism and social media ban in Nepal took a violent turn, videos show the country's Foreign Minister Arzu Rana Deuba being kicked and punched after a hostile mob broke into her residence.

The shocking video shows Arzu Deuba wiping blood from her face, surrounded by protesters filming her. Soon after, the clip shows the 63-year-old getting kicked from behind and punched in the face by angry protesters.

The protests that began on Monday, currently see 21 people dead and over 300 injured. Led by the youth of Nepal, the protests showcase a tipping point of a longstanding sentiment against politicians, their families and concerns over corruption.

Visuals showed a war-like situation in capital Kathmandu, with small armies of young men and women occupying public spaces and engaged in pitched battles with the cops.

Several social media sites -- including Facebook, YouTube and X -- were blocked on Friday in the Himalayan nation of 30 million people, after the government cut access to 26 unregistered platforms.

Protesters carried placards with slogans including "Shut down corruption and not social media", "Unban social media", and "Youths against corruption" as they marched through Kathmandu, while videos with hashtags like #NepoKid, #NepoBabies, and #PoliticiansNepoBabyNepal flooded social media.

The unrest is the worst in decades and much more violent than the one that happened in the Himalayan nation in 2006, when the uprising forced Nepal's king to give up his authoritarian rule.

In the weeks before the ban, a social media campaign - particularly on video-sharing platform TikTok - spotlighted the lavish lifestyles of politicians' children, highlighting disparities between Nepal's rich and poor. Protesters criticised them for flaunting their luxury possessions in a country where the per capita income is $1,400 a year.