NEPALI POLICE OPENED FIRE AND USED TEARGAS ON SATURDAY TO CONFRONT OVER 100,000 ANTI-MONARCHY PROTESTERS WHO DEFIED A CURFEW AND MARCHED TOWARDS KING GYANENDRA'S PALACE IN THE CENTRE OF THE CAPITAL, REUTERS REPORTED. POLITICAL PARTIES SAID ABOUT 150 PEOPLE WERE WOUNDED. ABOUT 100 WERE BROUGHT TO ONE HOSPITAL ALONE, DOCTORS SAID. "MOST OF THEM HAVE BEEN HURT BY TEARGAS OR IN A STAMPEDE AS THEY FLED," SAID DR. RAJESH DHOJ JOSHI AT THE KATHMANDU MODEL HOSPITAL. "BUT SOME HAVE BULLET WOUNDS." THE POLICE OPENED FIRE IN AT LEAST TWO PLACES AND FIRED TEARGAS REPEATEDLY TO PUSH BACK PROTESTERS JUST A KM (HALF A MILE) FROM THE PALACE, WITNESSES SAID. MARCHERS, WAVING BRANCHES AND RED COMMUNIST FLAGS, BROKE INTO THE CITY AS A SEVEN-PARTY ALLIANCE REJECTED OVERTURES BY THE KING TO FORM A GOVERNMENT. PREVIOUSLY, IN OVER TWO WEEKS OF PROTESTS, THE PROTESTERS HAVE BEEN HELD AT THE OUTSKIRTS. "THE PROCLAMATION HAS NO MEANING," SAID FORMER PRIME MINISTER GIRIJA PRASAD KOIRALA OF THE NEPALI CONGRESS, THE LARGEST PARTY IN THE ALLIANCE, REFERRING TO GYANENDRA'S BROADCAST TO THE NATION ON FRIDAY IN WHICH THE MONARCH OFFERED TO HAND OVER EXECUTIVE POWER. THE KING APPEARED TO RULE OUT ANY CHANGE OF THE CONSTITUTION TO CURB HIS POWERS. POLITICAL PARTIES HAVE DEMANDED ELECTIONS FOR A CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY, WHICH WOULD DRAFT A NEW CONSTITUTION. "THE ROYAL PROCLAMATION IS A SHAM," PROTESTERS IN KATHMANDU SHOUTED AS THEY THREW TREE BRANCHES, SCRAP AND ROCKS ACROSS ROADS TO BLOCK VEHICLES. INDIAN FOREIGN SECRETARY SHYAM SARAN SAID IT WAS FOR THE PEOPLE OF NEPAL TO WORK OUT THE DETAILS FOR REVIVING DEMOCRACY. SARAN TOLD REPORTERS IN NEW DELHI THAT THE KING'S OFFER TO HAND OVER EXECUTIVE POWER TO THE POLITICAL PARTIES WAS AN IMPORTANT DEVELOPMENT. "WE SUPPORT THE VIEWS OF THE SEVEN-PARTY ALLIANCE THAT THE RESTORATION OF PEACE AND MULTI-PARTY DEMOCRACY IS THE NEED OF THE HOUR," HE SAID. "WE BELIEVE THAT THE SENTIMENTS OF THE PEOPLE OF NEPAL SHOULD BE RESPECTED." MOBILE PHONE SERVICES IN THE CAPITAL WERE CUT SOON AFTER THE MARCHERS ENTERED CITY LIMITS, APPARENTLY TO PREVENT PROTEST ORGANISERS FROM COMMUNICATING. --MORE 2228 Local Time 1928 GMT
