Kathmandu, May 16

After protesting outside the country’s main administrative centre, Singha Durbar, for two consecutive days, the Federal Alliance today decided to picket the prime minister’s official residence in Baluwatar tomorrow.

The FA has been agitating against some provisions of the new constitution since Sunday.

As part of their plan to gherao Singha Durbar, the FA had staged demonstrations at Maitighar Mandala and Hanumansthan for two days.

According to FA spokesperson Sitaram Tamang, the FA will picket the prime minister’s residence in Baluwatar from 10:00am to 5:00pm tomorrow. Due to the FA protest the traffic flow in the capital was thrown out of gear throughout the day today as well.

A large number of security personnel were deployed on the streets to prevent agitators from clashing with commuters and entering Singha Durbar.

Chief District Officer of Kathmandu District Ram Krishna Subedi said one of the barricades near Maitighar Mandala was thrown away by the protesters but police exercised restraint and did not act against them.

During today’s protest, two persons were injured in police action after the crowd pelted the police with stones.

According to police, Anil Dhungana of Taruka, Nuwakot, was arrested for pelting stones at the police and 35 lathis carried by the demonstrators were seized from Thapathali chowk.

A youth was injured after the demonstrators assaulted him for allegedly infiltrating their protest to create trouble. A resident of Pali, Arghakhanchi, Ram Prasad Poudel, 23, sustained injuries in his eyes and was treated at Tripureshwor-based Nepal Eye Hospital.

A B.Sc student of Tri-Chandra college, Prakash Adhikari, was overpowered by demonstrators and handed over to police.

Meanwhile, addressing a function organised to mark Madan Ashrit Memorial Day here today, Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli termed the struggle of the Federal Alliance a farce and said the new constitution was endorsed by 92 per cent members of the Constituent Assembly and could not be rewritten.

The PM said the constitution could be amended but it could not be rewritten.

The PM urged the protesters to join the reconstruction drive instead of wasting time picketing Singha Durbar.