At the edges of a curfew

Besides the burning tyres, defiance of curfews and brutalisation by police there was another, more subtle resistance in the lanes and alleys of Kathmandu and Patan this week.

As the curfew hours draw near, people stake out their 'curfew points'-safe spaces from which they can watch the action. These points move as the balance of power shifts.

On the first morning of the curfew, Saturday, at 10 AM we stood with local people watching the Ring Road as a group of protesters on the other side put up obstacles. The Ring Road was a crucial curfew boundary. Outside it, people gathered to observe and move freely, and on this side we were tightly constrained.

The protesters and the police eyed each other over this boundary as the curfew hour approached, each side daring the other to claim the space. In many ways this confrontation helped define where the edge of the road actually lay and therefore the curfew. At 10:10 the police decided to act, enthusiastically taunted by protesters 100 m up the road. They called out and gestured at the police to come after them. When the police charged they ran through the alleys and reappeared opposite our little lane. They seemed pleased with their stint and laughed at the police who were now 50 m in the wrong direction.

MIN BAJRACHARYA

But once the group across the road slipped into the alleys of the non-curfew zone, the police turned their attention to us. They whistled and waved their batons as they approached, sending all 12 of us adults and children scurrying well back into the alley and out of sight.

Shortly afterwards, an elderly woman approached the road and did not break her stride. A policeman caught sight of her and blew his whistle, but she kept walking calling out that her house was on the other side. The other policeman drew his gun. Undaunted, she carried on walking at the same pace passing very close to him. He looked as if he wanted to stop her, but took no further action. She reached the other side safely.

During the curfews these alleys remained defiantly civil society spaces where people gathered, moved between neighbourhoods and constantly tested the boundaries of the security forces' control. The people are not 'protesters' but exercising a more subtle form of civil disobedience by refusing to accept their neighbourhoods and lanes as the king's. In other parts of the city, the security forces violated not only local claims to alleys and lanes, but also peoples' houses.

MIN BAJRACHARYA

Three days later, six young men came down the lane and entered the 'no man's land' before the Ring Road-our original vantage point on Saturday. Their timing was not good, it was 15 minutes into the curfew and the police had just chased some other boys away. The group of six hesitated, then gingerly moved towards the road where a policeman intercepted them. The teenagers indicated they wanted to cross over but their brief interchange was futile.

Almost at the same moment, the policeman hit one of the young men with a heavy blow. He then raised his rifle and brought it down with crushing force. The young man managed to duck and the group immediately ran deep into the lane. Throughout the incident, we deliberately positioned ourselves as witnesses, refusing to look away or be intimidated by his actions. By witnessing, we thought his violence would diminish but it seemed to have no effect whatsoever.

The testing of the neighbourhood space stood us well because by Sunday the neighbourhood had managed to claim movement on some roads. We decided to explore an unknown lane on the opposite side of one of these roads and to our surprise not even 20 m back we seemed to step out of the curfew all together. There were cricket and football matches in the middle of the lane (see pic, below) a lot of people out and even shops open.

JUDY PETTIGREW

These spaces of resistance were fluid, contested and in many ways highly subversive. While in some parts of the city tyres are burning, police are firing rounds of rubber bullets and tear gas at protesters, in the less overtly contested areas people express their defiance through everyday acts: crossing roads, opening shops, gathering to share news and confronting the security forces over the boundaries of control.

For now, it appears the security forces will continue to try to control the city through excessive force but what city do they rule? It is clear they cannot control the everyday spaces of most peoples' neighbourhoods and through subtle acts of resistance and defiance, the authority of the regime is eroded.

Andrea Nightingale is a geographer at the University of Edinburgh and Judith Pettigrew is an anthropoligist at the University of Central Lancashire.

Children in harm's way

SHEHAB UDDIN

UNICEF Nepal has expressed its deep concern about children being injured, arrested and detained in the recent demonstrations in Kathmandu and other cities.

"Children have no place in violent demonstrations," UNICEF Representative
Dr Suomi Sakai said on Thursday. "It is of great concern that children, some under the age of 10, have been seen taking part in demonstrations.some of these children have been injured."

"While children do have the right to freedom of expression under the Convention on the Rights of the Child, their parents and guardians also have the right and responsibility to ensure that children are exercising their rights in an age-appropriate manner," Sakai added.

Organisers of any demonstration or public gathering have a responsibility to ensure that children are out of harm's way, particularly children without family, such as street children, UNICEF said.

Meanwhile, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour said Thursday she was "shocked by the excessive use of force" by security forces in Nepal as well as the arbitrary detentions of protesters. "On Tuesday our human rights officers witnessed the most excessive use of force to date against demonstrators in Kathmandu by members of the APF and Nepal Police, and the toll of serious injuries added to three fatal shootings around the country has risen alarmingly," Arbour said. This follows UN Secretary General Kofi Annan's statement last week that virtually all avenues for peaceful protest in Nepal seem to have been closing.

Arbour reminded the government of her office's commitment to provide the UN's Department of Peacekeeping Operations with information regarding individuals implicated in human rights violations by the police and army.