State’s brutality on Gen-Z protestors

State’s brutality on Gen-Z protestors

Political protests and public uprisings are not new in the country. The country’s first mass uprising in 1990 (labelled “Jana Andolan I”) and the second in 2006 (“Jana Andolan II”) both called for major changes in the political system. But all the governments since then failed to meet the public’s hopes for real reforms.

On September 3, the government banned 26 social media platforms, including WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook, for failing to meet a deadline to register with the ministry of communication and information technology.

Gen Z saw the ban as censorship. The frustration spreading on social media quickly turned into a nationwide uprising. The government was compelled to lift the ban on September 8, but it was too late to save the coalition government.

Owing to state’s excessive use of force, 75 protestors were killed in the protests. Of these, one was a 12 year old child and at least 19 were young students. It was reported that at least 34 protesters died from gunshot wounds "to the head, chest, abdomen, and neck" as confirmed by autopsy. More than 2,100 were injured.

For the first time in the country’s history, a protest of this size has been entirely led by young people from Generation Z (born roughly between 1997 and 2012). Out of nearly 30 million people in Nepal, about 40% belong to this generation.

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