Protester slaps Nepal’s Maoist leader in the face

The leader of Nepal’s 10-year Maoist insurgency was left shaken on Friday when a former supporter slapped the ex-guerilla across the face, smashing his glasses.

Police dragged away 25-year-old Padam Kunwar during the angry confrontation with Maoist chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal -- better known as Prachanda, or the Fierce One -- at a reception in the capital Kathmandu.

“We have arrested him but he is undergoing treatment at hospital after he was beaten up by Maoist members,” police spokesman Keshav Adhikari said, adding Kunwar would be questioned later.

The attacker, said to be an alienated former party member, grabbed the 57-year-old’s hand and slapped him hard on the cheek, breaking the former revolutionary’s spectacles, during a tea-drinking ceremony.

Kunwar was whisked away by police drenched in blood after Prachanda’s supporters mobbed him and rained blows down onto his head and face.

Barshaman Pun, finance minister in the Maoist-led caretaker government, described the incident as “very unfortunate” and said it raised doubts over Prachanda’s security.