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- WORLD, Page 59World NotesNEPALA Taste of Blood
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- Fearful that his palace might soon be stormed and he could
- be forced to abdicate, King Birendra Shah of Nepal last week
- yielded to the demands of angry crowds and agreed to restore
- multiparty democracy after 30 years of one-man rule. The next
- day thousands of Nepalis thronged the streets, banging drums,
- clashing cymbals and smearing one another with the vermilion
- powder that Hindus use on religious occasions. Negotiations on
- constitutional reform began between the interim government and
- newly legal opposition parties.
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- Some protest leaders were worried, though, that the revolt
- had ended before ironclad guarantees were extracted from the
- King. Nearly 100 have died in seven weeks of unrest, but no date
- has yet been set for new elections. "We have achieved too little
- for the high price we paid," proclaimed Sahana Pradhan, chairman
- of the United Left Front. "Like tigers tasting blood, we have
- experienced people power. If the King lets us down, we will have
- no hesitation in reviving the agitation."
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