A protest by supporters of Nepal's former king Gyanendra Shah turned violent in Kathmandu on March 28, 2025, leaving two people dead and several others injured after police used tear gas, batons and water cannon to break up the crowd. The government imposed a curfew in the affected areas.
AP said one of the dead was a television cameraman and that another protester died while receiving hospital treatment. The clashes began after thousands of royalist supporters gathered near the airport to demand restoration of the monarchy Nepal abolished in 2008.
The rally had been intended as peaceful, but trouble started when some protesters in a white pickup drove at a police barricade and collided with officers. Police then escalated the response. Elsewhere in the capital, thousands of people supporting Nepal's republican system held a counter-rally.
The pro-monarchy march and the counter-demonstration showed how divided Nepal remains over the place of its former king. Royalist groups accuse the main parties of corruption and failed governance, while opponents say the monarchy is gone for good. That political split gave the day's confrontations a significance beyond the immediate street violence.
Police reported several officers injured. The AP report also noted that Gyanendra, who lost power after mass protests in 2006 and the abolition of the monarchy two years later, had not commented on the renewed calls for his return. The source said he had little chance of immediately regaining power despite growing support.
The clash left Kathmandu under curfew and added another chapter to Nepal's long-running argument over monarchy, republic and public order. For now, the facts are simple: a rally, a barricade breach, police force and two deaths that deepened a political rift still unresolved.
The day's violence also reflected Nepal's deeper argument over what kind of state it wants to be. The royalist camp has grown louder in recent months, accusing the main parties of corruption and failure, while opponents gathered elsewhere in Kathmandu to defend the republic. The counter-rally by Maoist-led groups made it clear that the argument over the monarchy is still alive in the street, not just in parliament.
The police response left several officers injured and the capital under curfew, turning a political rally into a law-and-order emergency. Gyanendra, who lost the throne after mass protests in 2006 and the formal abolition of the monarchy two years later, did not comment on the renewed calls for his return. That silence, alongside the dead and injured, left the issue suspended but not resolved.
For Nepal, the street fighting revived old arguments about legitimacy. The monarchy was abolished after huge protests, but royalist supporters say the parties that replaced it have failed to govern cleanly. The fact that both royalist and republican groups filled Kathmandu on the same day shows that the dispute is still alive, even if the former king himself has not yet tried to turn support into a formal comeback bid.
The violence also reinforced how much symbolic weight the monarchy still carries. Even after years without a crown, royalists continue to frame the king as a corrective to corruption, while republic supporters see restoration as a step backward. The day's deaths turned that argument into a police emergency, not just a political rally.
