• Protests led by young held in capital and other cities.
• Demonstrators denounce social media shutdown, corruption.
• Police fire tear gas and rubber bullets at protesters.
  

KATHMANDU: Unrest killed at least 19 people in Nepal on Monday, authorities said, as police in the capital fired tear gas and rubber bullets at protesters trying to storm parliament in anger at a social media shutdown and corruption.

Some of the main youth protesters forced their way into the parliament complex in Kathmandu by breaking through a barricade, a local official said, setting fire to an ambulance and hurling objects at lines of riot police guarding the legislature.

“The police have been firing indiscriminately,” one protester told the ANI news agency. “(They) fired bullets which missed me but hit a friend who was standing behind me. He was hit in the hand.”

More than 100 people, including 28 police personne,l were receiving medical treatment for their injuries, police officer Shekhar Khanal told Reuters. Protesters were ferrying the injured tthe o hospital on motorcycles.

Another two people were killed when protests in the eastern city of Itahari turned violent, police said.

Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli called an emergency cabinet meeting to discuss the unrest, which erupted after thousands of young people, including many wearing their school or college uniforms, took to the streets earlier on Monday.

Many carried flags and placards with slogans such as “Shut down corruption and not social media”, “Unban social media”, and “Youths against corruption”, as they marched through Kathmandu.

Organisers of the protests, which spread to other cities in the Himalayan country, have called them “demonstrations by Gen Z”. They say the protests reflect young people’s widespread frustration with government action to tackle corruption and boost economic opportunities.

“This is the protest by the new generation in Nepal,” another protester told ANI.

A government decision to block access to several social media platforms, including Facebook, last week has fuelled anger among the young. About 90% of Nepal’s 30 million people use the internet.

Officials said they imposed the ban because platforms had failed to register with authorities in a crackdown on misuse, including false social media accounts used to spread hate speech and fake news, and commit fraud.

Batons and rubber bullets

Police had orders to use water cannons, batons and rubber bullets to control the crowd and the army was deployed in the parliament area to bolster law enforcement officers, Muktiram Rijal, a spokesperson for the Kathmandu district office, told Reuters.

He said the curfew, which will remain in force until 10 p.m. local time, had been extended to Kathmandu’s Singha Durbar area, which includes the prime minister’s office and other government buildings.

Violence abated later in the evening although protesters remained in the area outside parliament.

Police said similar protests were also held in Biratnagar and Bharatpur in the southern plains and in Pokhara in western Nepal.

Many people in Nepal think corruption is rampant, and the Oli government has been criticised by opponents for failing to deliver on its promises to tackle graft or make progress to address longstanding economic issues.

Thousands of young Nepalis go abroad every year for work and education.

Rameshwore Khanal, a former finance secretary, said although job creation is not up to expectations, popular anger appears to stem more from unhappiness with government appointments and its inability to stamp out corruption.

Nepal’s social media shutdown comes as governments worldwide take steps to tighten oversight of social media and Big Tech due to growing concern about issues such as misinformation, data privacy, online harm and national security.

Critics say many of these measures risk stifling free expression, but regulators say stricter controls are needed to protect users and preserve social order. 

• Opposition unites to topple Bayrou’s minority govt.
• Francois Bayrou to address Assembly before voting.
• Macron calls on parties to demonstrate “responsibility”.

France’s parliament is expected to oust Prime Minister Francois Bayrou on Monday after just nine months in office, plunging the key EU member into new political uncertainty and creating a painful dilemma for President Emmanuel Macron.

Bayrou blindsided even his allies by calling a confidence vote to end a months-long standoff over his austerity budget, which foresees almost 44 billion euros ($52 billion) of cost savings to reduce France´s debt pile.

Opposition parties across the board have made it clear they will vote against his minority government, making it highly improbable he will get enough backing to survive — he needs a majority of the 577 MPs in the National Assembly.

Bayrou will become the second French prime minister in succession to have suffered such a fate after Michel Barnier was ejected in December after only three months in office.

Bayrou, the sixth prime minister under Macron since 2017, has given no indication in days of TV interviews that he expects to survive the vote.

Instead, he has asked: “Has our country understood the seriousness of the situation it finds itself in?”

He is expected to address parliament in a final bid for support from 1300 GMT with the vote awaited from 1700 GMT.

Poor polls

After the vote, Macron will face one of the most critical decisions of his presidency: appointing the seventh prime minister of his mandate to thrash out a compromise, or call snap elections in a bid to have a more accommodating parliament.

The president is spearheading European efforts to end Russia´s war on Ukraine, boosting his international profile.

But polling at home does not make pretty reading, and he is forbidden from standing a third time in 2027.

According to a poll by Odoxa-Backbone for Le Figaro newspaper, 64% of French want Macron to resign rather than name a new prime minister, a move he has explicitly ruled out.

Some 77% of people do not approve of his work, Macron’s worst-ever such rating, according to an Ifop poll for the Ouest-France daily.

Addressing the crisis after an international summit on Ukraine, Macron called on French political forces on Thursday to demonstrate “responsibility” and ensure “stability”.

“The reshaping of the world is changing many things for our Europe. In this context, France must continue to move forward,” he said.

But alongside political upheavals, France is also facing social tension.

A left-wing collective calling itself “Block Everything” is calling for a day of action on September 10 and trade unions have urged workers to strike on September 18.

Sleeping giant

There is no guarantee an election would result in any improvement in the fortunes of Macron’s centre-right bloc in parliament.

But there are signs that the president could be eyeing cooperation with the Socialist Party (PS), a one time giant of French politics that has fallen into the doldrums in recent years.

At a meeting on Tuesday of the centrist parties that support him, Macron urged them to “work with the Socialists”, a participant said, asking not to be named. All those present were opposed to snap elections, the person added.

Socialist leader Olivier Faure has made no secret of his readiness to take the post of prime minister, even producing his own draft budget.

But Socialist backing would not automatically attract support from other left-wing forces.

“It would be workable if the Socialist Party says: ‘We’re overthrowing the alliance and governing with the central bloc,'” said a close associate of Macron, adding that for now the president is keeping his cards close to his chest.

• 16-year-old suspect attacks police station in Balcova.
• Teenager has no criminal record, previous arrests: governor.
•  Assailant used “long-barrelled gun” in attack, says media.

ISTANBUL: Two policemen were killed and two others wounded in a shooting attack on a police station near the Turkish city of Izmir on Monday, and a 16-year-old suspect was arrested, a minister said.

Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said the “heinous” attack on the police station in Balcova, a district just west of the resort city, left two officers dead and a third “seriously injured”.

“The suspect in the incident, 16-year-old EB, has been arrested and an investigation has been opened,” he wrote on X.

Speaking to Turkish media at the scene, Izmir governor Suleyman Elban said the suspect lived on the same road as the police station and was injured during his arrest.

“The murder suspect is a 16-year-old who lives on this street. He has no criminal record or previous arrests for any crime,” he told the private NTV television, saying the teenager was “apprehended with injuries”.

It was not immediately clear why the station was attacked but footage posted by the Gercek Gundem news website showed mobile phone footage of a person in a balaclava, a black top and pale trousers jogging along the pavement carrying a rifle and then entering a building.

Another clip widely published showed the alleged attacker lying on the pavement being attended by paramedics.

He appeared to be conscious but the back of his trousers were covered with blood and multiple bullet cases were lying the ground.

A third clip showed a group of civilians helping to manhandle the suspect into a police van.

The DHA news agency said the assailant had used “a long-barrelled gun”, while NTV described the weapon as a “pump-action shotgun”.

Police immediately fanned out across the area, imposing tight security measures, media reports said.

Izmir Mayor Cemil Tugay denounced a “treacherous” attack and sent his condolences to the families of the dead in a post on X.