UN calls for restraint

An alarmed UN called for restraint as the general strike enforced by Nepal's former Maoist guerrillas entered the second day Monday amidst reports of widespread violence.
Police said 72 protesters were arrested and almost an equal number of people, including security forces, injured while more than a dozen vehicles were vandalised and shops and industries attacked.
Nepal's Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal, who returned from the Copenhagen climate summit Sunday, headed for a hospital in the capital to enquire about the condition of a deputy superintendent of police, Dilli Chaudhary, who sustained serious head injuries during clashes and is said to be in critical condition after an emergency operation.
"I call on all groups to exercise restraint, to avoid provocation and to reduce tension through dialogue," the UN's top human rights official in Nepal, Richard Bennett, said in a press statement.
Bennett, who heads the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in Nepal, said the display of violence was 'some of the worst on the streets of Kathmandu for several years, perhaps since Jana Andolaan-II (the pro-democracy protests against deposed king Gyanendra's army-backed reign in 2006)'.