"School Students Shot, Women Raped": Nepal Influencers' Claim On Protest

Khadga Prasad Oli resigned as Nepal's Prime Minister on Tuesday following violent protests against a ban on social media platforms and government corruption. KP Oli said he was stepping down immediately. Khadga Prasad Oli said he was stepping down immediately, as protests turned violent for the second consecutive day. 

The state's brutal attempt to take down the mass uprising, led by Generation Z, led to the loss of at least 19 lives and left hundreds injured. According to Nepali social media influencers, several of those who died were students in school uniforms. 

"Students dressed in school uniform, even minors, were shot," said Miss Nepal Earth 2022, Sareesha Shrestha, in a TikTok video. She claimed that the law enforcement officials entered hospitals where the injured were being treated and attacked them. 

"Something that began as the peaceful demonstrations across the country ended up becoming a heartbreaking tragedy for the entire nation," she said. 

Ruth Khadka, a Social media influencer from Nepal, also claimed that several students in school uniform were targeted by the law enforcement officials. 

"Peaceful protestors, most of them school students in uniform, were killed. Women and girls are being raped in their own houses because they spoke against corruption...People are met with violence by those who are supposed to guard them...The bullets were meant to be rubber bullets, but they were not. The police are supposed to protect the citizens and not kill them," she said. 

According to Drishti Adhikari, a TikToker from Nepal, most of the protestors were unarmed and peaceful, but the "government answered us with tear gas, rubber bullets and then live gunfire."

"Among the dead, one was a student in a school uniform, seen dead on the street. The UN basic principle on the use of force and firearms states that lethal force can only be used as a last resort, strictly to save lives and never to disperse an armed crowd or where children are present," she said. 

"What happened is not lawful and a violation of international human rights."

A video has also gone viral from Nepal, where a woman, who appeared to be a doctor, claimed that police officers entered hospitals and shot at patients there. 

"How can they shoot inside the hospital. The hospital is a peaceful place, a safe place, how can they shoot inside the hospital?" she said, adding that the entire nation has joined Gen Z in their movement. 

Nepal Protest

Protesters set fire to homes of some of Nepal's top political leaders in opposition to a social media ban that was lifted early Tuesday, a day after deadly anti-government protests. Local reports and videos shared on social media showed protesters attacking the residences of the top political leaders in and around Kathmandu. A curfew was imposed in the capital and other cities, and schools in Kathmandu were closed.

The houses set on fire included those of Sher Bahadur Deuba, leader of the largest party, Nepali Congress, President Ram Chandra Poudel, Home Minister Ramesh Lekhak and leader of the Communist Party of Nepal Maoist Pushpa Kamal Dahal. A private school owned by Deuba's wife, Arzu Deuba Rana, who is the current foreign minister, was also set on fire.

The mass protest and attack on parliament on Monday began as opposition to the ban on social media platforms, but was fueled by growing frustration and dissatisfaction against the political parties among the people who blame them for corruption.