On January 19, at least 100 political leaders and movement activists were arrested or house-detained following early morning raids by King Gyanendra's autocratic army, which seized power in a February 2005 coup. The arrests took place on the eve of a major protest planned by a coalition of seven key opposition parties for the restoration of democracy. On January 20, an 8am-6pm curfew was enforced by 15,000 armed soldiers in Katmandu to prevent the rally from going ahead. Among those arrested were at least 24 members of the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist Leninist), including its general secretary Madhav Nepal. The King used the threat posed by the guerrilla war being waged by the influential Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) to justify his actions. The US, the European Union and India all expressed concerns about the crackdown.
From Green Left Weekly, January 25, 2006.
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