As large-scale anti-government protests intensify in Nepal, videos showing cabinet-level figures being assaulted by demonstrators are spreading rapidly on social media.
According to India's NDTV and others on the 13th (local time), on the 9th in downtown Kathmandu, a person believed to be Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Bishnu Prasad Paudel was filmed being beaten by protesters.
The video shows a man trying to flee through the crowd before being kicked to the ground, and NDTV aired the footage with the caption, "Nepal's finance minister was hit by a crowd."
A video of a man believed to be Minister Paudel being dragged around by protesters in his underwear and footage of a person thought to be Foreign Minister Arzu Rana Deuba being beaten by a group also spread on social media. In addition, the Associated Press (AP) reported that a private school run by Minister Deuba and his spouse was set on fire by protesters.
The protests were sparked in response to the government blocking access to 26 social media platforms—including YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and X (formerly Twitter)—on the 5th. The Nepalese government said it was a measure to prevent the spread of fake news, but young people characterized it as an attempt to suppress an anti-corruption movement.
As young people, disappointed with the government's passivity on rooting out corruption and boosting the economy, joined en masse, the protests spread not only in Kathmandu but also to provincial cities. In particular, videos on social media contrasting elite children enjoying luxury goods and lavish vacations with the hardships of ordinary people fanned young people's anger.
Starting on the 8th, Nepal police used tear gas, water cannons and rubber bullets in a hard-line crackdown, and so far 51 people have been killed and more than 1,300 injured, according to tallies.