MASS GATHERINGS AS PEOPLE WAIT FOR KING'S MESSAGE

C O N F I D E N T I A L KATHMANDU 001020 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPT FOR SCA/INS E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/21/2016 TAGS: PGOV NP SUBJECT: MASS GATHERINGS AS PEOPLE WAIT FOR KING'S MESSAGE REF: KATHMANDU 1015 Classified By: Ambassador James F. Moriarty. Reasons 1.4 (b/d). Demonstrations Bigger on April 21 -------------- ¶1. (C) On April 21, seven-party alliance leaders reported that the largest number of people to date took to the streets in Kathmandu in support of democracy, as people waited for a message from the King, expected at 1900 local time. Minendra Rijal, NC(D) Spokesman, noted that the mass demonstration was bigger than April 20, and more peaceful as the security forces exercised more restraint. Over 200,000 protesters at Kalanki, site of yesterday's fatal shootings, did burn a police post and government land record office, however. Rijal estimated that there were about 500,000 people around the Ring Road by late afternoon. He noted that the demonstration had an air of anticipation, as everyone was waiting to see what the King would say. He expected that people would act according to what the King said and, if they did not like the message, would continue to demonstrate in the coming days. Gopal Man Shrestha, NC(D) Central Committee member, agreed that there were more people demonstrating today. He estimated 400,000 people around the Ring Road. He opined that the King would have to promise to reinstate parliament, dissolve the present cabinet, cancel zonal commissioners, release all political prisoners, and agree to accept the results of a constituent assembly for the pro-democracy demonstrators to be satisfied. It the King did not meet all these conditions, then the Parties would have to meet and decide their future program. The government extended the April 21 curfew from 2000 to 2400. Protesters Want to March Into the City -------------- ¶2. (C) KP Oli, CPN-UML Central Committee member, said that People's Front Nepal and Nepal Sadbhawana Party-Ananda Devi (NSP-AD),two of the smaller parties in the seven-party alliance, had wanted to enter the city center, but Oli and other CPN-UML leaders had urged people to stay on the Ring Road today, and wait to hear the King's message. Oli noted that protests across the country were bigger than the day before, and estimated a total of 600,000-700,000 people demonstrated around the Ring Road on April 21. Oli stated that the Parties were calling for a nationwide blackout from 2000-2030 for the third day in a row to show solidarity with the movement. While everyone was waiting for the King's message and hopeful he would turn over power to the Parties, Oli noted that the government had arrested Bam Dev Gautam and Jhala Nath Khanal, two CPN-UML cadre who had been in New Delhi since negotiating the March 16 agreement with the Maoists, as the two stepped off their flight from India on April 21. Anhil Jha, NSP-Ananda Devi, talked to Emboff from Satobato along the southern part of the Ring Road where he estimated there were 500,000 peaceful demonstrators. He commented that army and police vehicles could not control the crowds there and had withdrawn into the Ring Road. This "greatly encouraged" protesters, who were "energized to enter the city" if the King did not give the right message. Convoys Reach Capital -------------- ¶3. (C) Security forces told Emboff that escorted convoys were traveling to Kathmandu on April 20 and 21. On April 20, the convoy passing through Chitwan had 23 fuel trucks, 12 food trucks, ten public buses, 3 cooking gas trucks. On April 21, the convoy had 7 fuel trucks, 15 food trucks, ten public buses, 10 cooking gas trucks. MORIARTY