A Country Under House Arrest

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The shops and restaurants' steel doors remained rolled down and padlocked shut. No vehicles plied the road. A road block with armed guards secure the entrance into the centerof town. Only a sprinkling of people walked the streets. No locals, just tourist. There were remnants of a protest up ahead. Rocks strewn on the road, tarmac blackened and smoldering- traces of tires that were burnt which emitted the nauseating smell of burnt rubber. Dozens of armed policemen patrolled the area. One approached and questioned me in Nepali as I bent down and photographed the scene. "Mua Nepali, hoina", I said letting him know I am not Nepali. He smiled and walked away. If I was in fact Nepali, I would have yelled at, like the couple and their baby son up ahead who were scolded for being outside of their homes and on the street, seen as an act of defiance.

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To understand this you need to know there is an ongoing strike called by the seven party alliance. During the strike, the whole country is paralyzed, transportation is halted and businesses are shutdown as people walk together, hand in hand, in a peaceful protest, wanting to be heard, asking for democracy to be restored and to call for peace.

How are these peaceful protests being handled by the opposition? Curfew has been instilled throughout the whole country. Locals are not allowed out of their homes and on the streets between 9am and 7pm. The country is put on house arrest. This per the opposition, is done to deter any unnecessary violence, during the ‘peaceful’ call for protest. Locals who defy the curfew, which includes simply going outside of their homes and walking the streets or engaging in protest, are reprimanded in whatever course of action the authority chooses, being arrested, being baton charged, being engulfed in tear gas or simply being shot.

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The peaceful protesters are determined to survive and to be heard, it is, after all,  their given right. They continue walking as peacefully as they can, defying curfew, defying authority as peacefully as they can. They continue forward, together hand in hand with each other and with their rights, their beliefs, their hopes all bonding in unity.

Together, they willingly enter into the line of fire, in hopes their united voices will finally bring what their country and they as human beings, rightfully deserve, peace.