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Social Media Goes Back Online in Nepal After 19 Are Killed in Protests

The government reversed its ban on Facebook, Instagram and other platforms, which had helped to fuel demonstrations by young people who were also angry about corruption.

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Nepalese Protesters Briefly Storm Parliament Over Social Media Ban
Protesters, mostly teenagers and young adults, surged toward the Parliament complex in Nepal’s capital and occupied a security building before being dispersed by the police using rubber bullets and water cannons. The protests come days after the government banned most social media platforms.CreditCredit...Navesh Chitrakar/Reuters

After reacting with force to pitched protests on Monday, a day of clashes that killed at least 19 people, Nepal’s government retreated from its ban on some of the world’s biggest social media platforms, which had helped to set off the unrest.

By Tuesday morning, all 26 of the platforms that the government blocked last week, including Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram and WeChat, were back online. But protesters were back on the street despite a curfew, demanding that government officials be punished and replaced.

The protests, which were fueled by anger over corruption and a weak economy as well as the social media ban, have been the most widespread in Nepal’s recent history. The security forces’ violent response has only added to the pressure on the government. Opposition parties and some members of the governing coalition had called for Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli to resign.

In the capital, Kathmandu, protesters surged toward the Parliament complex on Monday, occupying a security post before being dispersed by the police, according to witnesses. It was not immediately clear how those who died were killed, or how hundreds of others were wounded, but the witnesses said the authorities had used live ammunition against the crowd, in addition to rubber bullets and water cannons.

The demonstrators, who appeared to be mostly teenagers and young adults, have embraced the label “Gen Z protest.” A Nepalese official acknowledged their youth in disclosing that the government would retreat from its move against more than two dozen social media platforms.

“To address the demands raised by Gen Z, a social media ban will be lifted,” Prithvi Subba Gurung, minister for communication and information technology, said in an interview with The New York Times late on Monday.


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