Nepal police clash with devotees defying virus ban for religious festival

Protesters were enraged that a centuries-old religious procession set for April had been indefinitely halted amid the country’s coronavirus lockdown

They gathered in the city of Lalitpur where a 5-storey-high chariot holding a statue of the deity Rato Machindranath was built but parked for months

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Protesters defying a government coronavirus lockdown to take part in a religious festival clash with riot police, in Lalitpur, Nepal, on Thursday. Photo: AP

Published: 10:54pm, 3 Sep 2020Updated: 4:46am, 4 Sep 2020

Thousands of protesters defying a government coronavirus lockdown to take part in a religious festival clashed with riot police in Nepal on Thursday, leaving several people injured.

The protesters had gathered in the city of Lalitpur where a 5-storey-high chariot holding a statue of the deity Rato Machindranath was built but parked for months because of government orders not hold the annual festival because of fear over the spread of the coronavirus. The statue is normally pulled around the city for a month.

People pull the chariot of Deity Rato Machindranath in Lalitpur on Thursday. Photo: DPA

Police officers in riot gear blocked the protesters when they moved the chariot, dousing them with water cannons. Police fired tear gar to disperse the protesters, who in return threw stones at the police.

The clash continued for hours and spread to the small cobble stone alleys in the city, which is south of the capital, Kathmandu.

Devotees and riot police clash in Lalitpur, Nepal. Photo: EPA

Nepalese authorities have banned outdoor festivals and religious gatherings since March to stop the spread of coronavirus. Kathmandu and surrounding districts have been on a lockdown since last month that prohibits people from leaving their homes.