A general strike aimed at disrupting next week’s parliamentary elections shut down Nepal on Monday, leaving businesses and educational institutions completely shuttered. The strike was called by the Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist and its 32 small allies, which have announced a boycott of the Nov. 19 Constituent Assembly elections and a nationwide transportation strike from Tuesday until election day. The CPN-Maoist is dominated by communists who split away from their almost identically named mother party — the Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) — last year.
Police said around a dozen vehicles have been vandalized and some torched across the country.
“We have arrested 53 strike enforcers,” police spokesman Ganesh K.C. told Kyodo News. Bomb scares were reported in several parts of the country, but all of them proved to be false alarms. The police are escorting vehicles carrying essentials along the national highway.
Full Article: Anti-election strike shuts down Nepal | GlobalPost.
