Torch rally held in Kathmandu to protest against Chinese interference

Dozens of people hit the streets of Kathmandu holding a torch rally on Tuesday night to protest against the Chinese interference in Nepal`s internal political matters

Dozens of people hit the streets of Kathmandu holding a torch rally on Tuesday night to protest against the Chinese interference in Nepal`s internal political matters. Holding placards and torches, protestors chanted slogans against Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli.

They marched from the President`s house to the Chinese Embassy. Similar protests also erupted in different parts of the Himalayan country ever since the Parliament has been dissolved. In Pokhara, 17 protesters were arrested on Tuesday evening for organising a torch rally against Chinese interference in Nepal`s internal affairs.

Earlier this week a four-member delegation led by Guo Yezhou, a vice minister in the International Department of Communist Party of China arrived in Nepal and met major political leaders of the Himalayan Nation. Nepal President Bidya Devi Bhandari had dissolved the Lower House on Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli`s recommendation on December 20. The move has invited 12 petitions in the country`s apex court, claiming it to be "unconstitutional", including one by Prachanda.

On Tuesday, protestors led by Pushpa Kamal Dahal and Madhav Kumar Nepal of Nepal Communist Party`s rival factions marched through the streets of Kathmandu against the dissolution of Parliament. The march took place even as a delegation from China is in Nepal on a four-day visit to "assess the ground situation".

Oli claimed of lack of support from party insiders and moves to oust him from post through impeachment as the reasons to dissolve the parliament which he exercised going beyond the constitutional rights.