Protesting journalists clash with police in Nepal

Protesting journalists clash with police in Nepal

KATHMANDU

— Nepalese journalists on Wednesday clashed with police as they picketed a government building in Kathmandu to demand improved security after the murder of a newspaper publisher.
Around 100 media workers were chanting slogans and waving placards when the brief outbreak of violence took place, an AFP photographer witnessed.
The protest followed the murder of Arun Singhaniya, the owner of a regional newspaper and radio station, who was shot dead near his home in the southern Nepalese town of Janakpur on Monday. The Federation of Nepalese Journalists said it had organised rallies across the country to demand his killers be brought to justice and to call for media workers to be better protected.
"Our demand is simple -- let us write and live. We want to put pressure on the government to arrest those behind the murder of Arun Singhaniya," organiser Ujir Magar, told AFP. Singhaniya's killing came after the murder in February of another media owner, Jamim Shah, although the two are not thought to be connected.
The editors of Nepal's major newspapers on Wednesday published an open letter condemning Singhaniya's killing and criticising the government for failing to clamp down on assaults against the media.
"We demand that the government immediately make efforts to arrest the criminals and bring them to justice," they said.