Description: Students and other enraged civilians took to the streets in Nepal’s capital, Kathmandu, after the government’s decision to block access to social media platforms last week, over regulatory and compliance issues. The protests, labeled by the public as Generation Z and Nepo Kids demonstrations, erupted in several cities across the small Asian country with 19 people losing their lives in the violent clashes with the riot police which had reportedly been authorized to use live munition to suppress the demonstrations. Protesters ran riots across several suburbs of the capital, entered the Parliamentary complex and torched several properties pertaining to the country’s political elite. The government responded by issuing an official statement and reinstating access to key social media platforms across the country despite the alleged regulatory and compliance irregularities. Home Minister Ramesh Lekhak, submitted his resignation following the deadly outturn of the protests as the public called for the Prime Minister, K.P. Sharma Oli, to resign, stating that Nepal has been struggling with nationwide corruption, poor governance, nepotism and debilitating economic growth. Nepal transformed from a monarchy into a republic in 2008, ending the monarchy’s 239 – year rule and has had 14 governments in the past 17 years, each one failing to tackle the country’s core systemic issues.
Impact: The Nepalese government has effectively attempted to censor the social media platforms in the country in an attempt to avoid the repercussions from the country’s social and economic stifling dissent, which has escalated public discontent to deadly levels. Despite the restoration of access to large number of social media platforms, the transpiring violence on the streets in the capital demonstrated severe underlying public disapproval for the government’s rule and practically demanded transformative reforms. The large scale of the protests, which have so far solicited the resignation from the Home Minister, indicates that a nationwide political crisis could rapidly unfold as the protests are calling for more resignations and governmental restructuring. Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli and his government are under mounting pressure to reform, restructure and provide Nepal with transformative domestic reforms which would bring about economic growth and institutionalized democracy. Instability would persist for the time being, potentially escalating towards a full-blown political crisis and escalation in violent demonstrations.