Nepal police shoot and kill some 17 people protesting a social media ban

At least 17 people have died after police in Nepal opened fire on protesters demonstrating against a government ban on social media on Monday.

At least 145 people have also been wounded. The death toll was announced by police official Shekhar Khanal. He said that 28 police officers were among the wounded, as smaller protests continued into late Monday evening.

Rallies swept the streets of Kathmandu around the Parliament building, which was surrounded by tens of thousands of people angry over the decision by authorities to block most social media platforms, including Facebook, X and YouTube. Officials said the companies had failed to register and submit to government oversight.

Why the social media ban?

Nepal government have been asking the companies to appoint a liaison office or point in the country. It has brought a bill in parliament that aims to ensure that social platforms are properly managed, responsible and accountable.

The bill, which has not yet been fully debated in parliament, has been widely criticised as a tool for censorship and punishing opponents who voice their protests online. Rights groups have called it an attempt by the government to curb freedom of expression and violate citizens’ fundamental rights.

Officials have said it was necessary to bring laws to monitor social media and ensure that both the users and operators were responsible and accountable of what they share and what is being published or said on these platforms.

Protesters pushed through barbed wire and forced riot police to retreat inside the Parliament complex. Police eventually opened fire at the protesters.

The situation remained tense and the government announced a curfew for Monday around Parliament, the government secretariat, the presidential house and key parts of the city.

“Stop the ban on social media, stop corruption not social media,” the crowds outside parliament chanted, waving the red and blue national flags. Monday's rally was called the protest of Gen Z, generally referring to people born between 1995 and 2010.

About two dozen social network platforms that are widely used in Nepal were repeatedly given notices to register their companies officially in the country, the government said. Those which failed to register have been blocked since last week.

TikTok, Viber and three other platforms have registered and operate without interruption.

Nepal in 2023 banned video-sharing app TikTok for disrupting “social harmony, goodwill and diffusing indecent materials." The ban was lifted last year after TikTok's executives pledged to comply with local laws. They include a ban of pornographic sites that was passed in 2018.