Anger has been building for weeks in southern Nepal after lawmakers struck a breakthrough deal on a new constitution, spurred by April's devastating earthquake.
Kathmandu:
Nepal police fired into a crowd of demonstrators today, killing one, as fresh protests erupted in the country's southern plains over a new draft constitution.
Clashes broke out in the southeastern district of Saptari when hundreds of protestors threw stones and bottles as police tried to escort vehicles through a blocked national highway.
"One person was killed after police were forced to fire to control the aggressive demonstrators," district police chief Narayan Prasad Chimuriya told AFP.
Anger has been building for weeks in southern Nepal after lawmakers struck a breakthrough deal on a new constitution, spurred by April's devastating earthquake.
Plans to divide the Himalayan nation into seven provinces have sparked fury among historically marginalised communities including the Madhesi and Tharu ethnic minorities, who say the new internal borders will limit their political representation.
The home ministry said 26 people including 10 police officers and an 18-month-old boy, have been killed since the violence broke out last month.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon last week called for an end to the violence and urged Nepal's politicians to hold talks with protestors.
Work on a new national constitution began in 2008, two years after the end of the Maoist insurgency that left an estimated 16,000 people dead and brought down the 240-year-old Hindu monarchy.
But negotiations faltered over the issue of internal borders and the resulting uncertainty left Nepal -- one of the world's poorest countries -- in political limbo.
Clashes broke out in the southeastern district of Saptari when hundreds of protestors threw stones and bottles as police tried to escort vehicles through a blocked national highway.
"One person was killed after police were forced to fire to control the aggressive demonstrators," district police chief Narayan Prasad Chimuriya told AFP.
Anger has been building for weeks in southern Nepal after lawmakers struck a breakthrough deal on a new constitution, spurred by April's devastating earthquake.
Plans to divide the Himalayan nation into seven provinces have sparked fury among historically marginalised communities including the Madhesi and Tharu ethnic minorities, who say the new internal borders will limit their political representation.
The home ministry said 26 people including 10 police officers and an 18-month-old boy, have been killed since the violence broke out last month.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon last week called for an end to the violence and urged Nepal's politicians to hold talks with protestors.
Work on a new national constitution began in 2008, two years after the end of the Maoist insurgency that left an estimated 16,000 people dead and brought down the 240-year-old Hindu monarchy.
But negotiations faltered over the issue of internal borders and the resulting uncertainty left Nepal -- one of the world's poorest countries -- in political limbo.
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