BHAKTAPUR, NEPAL – I saw the 12 victims’ bodies illuminated by a dim torch and shards of light form the full moon. Their faces looked twisted and ghostly. They had been lined up outdoors on blood soaked mud.

The rioters had arranged themselves at the end of an alley leading to the hospital, and started fires with anything they could find — tires, wood and cardboard boxes. They lobbed bricks at the police, who occasionally charged down the alley with their bamboo canes, and shields. When the volley of bricks being thrown at them would get too heavy, they would fire tear gas canisters. People were shouting “Sons of Paras!” at the police, referring to the notorious Crown Prince who is rumored to have killed several people in drunk driving incidents.

The massacre of the 12 people had happened the night before in hilltop village of Nagarkot. The quiet hamlet is known as a popular destination for tourists to watch the sunset on the Himalayas. There were no political motives behind the shooting. Apparently an off duty Royal Nepal Army soldier had gotten drunk and settled a petty dispute over a girl by unloading his assault riffle into a crowd celebrating a festival inside a temple.

What I was watching in Bhaktapur was the locals’ reaction to the shootings. Mourners and angry students surrounded the hospital for most of the day, before the situation turned violent. The streets were clouded with tear gas and dotted with burning barricades for the rest of the night.

Here is a link to the Daily Telegraph story about the event.

[Copyright Tomas van Houtryve. Do not copy, archive or re-post without written permission. All rights reserved.]