Nepal Maoists provoke temple rebellion

Riot police have been deployed at Nepal's holiest Hindu temple to stop protests after the Maoist government tried to throw out Indian priests who have officiated there for generations.
The threat to centuries of tradition at the Pashupati temple sparked demonstrations by Hindus appalled at changes pushed through by the secular Maoists, who also scrapped Nepal's Hindu monarchy last year.
"We want this decision scrapped immediately," said Hariharman Bhandari, one of the Nepalese priests upset by the move. "The Maoists have appointed their own people."
Dozens of riot police and Maoist volunteers escorted the temple's new Nepalese priests on Thursday as they visited holy sites around the Pashupati complex, which dates from the third century BC.