Riots rocking Nepal after Gyanendra crowned king
( 2001-06-04 17:07 ) (7 )

riot

Rioting broke out in Nepal's capital on Monday just hours after a new king was crowned following the massacre of almost the entire royal family.

Although newly crowned King Gyanendra earlier promised a full investigation, hundreds of Nepalis tried to storm the palace, clamouring to know how King Birendra, Queen Aishwarya and six of their closest relatives came to be killed on Friday night.

Armed riot police used teargas and batons to hold back a huge mob which repeatedly surged forward to try to get near the palace.

Many brandished sticks and threw stones at police in an upsurge of rage against the deaths of the country's popular monarch.

Birendra's son and heir Dipendra -- initially blamed for slaughtering his family in a row over his future bride -- died himself on Monday having been in a coma since Friday night.

New King Gyanendra said Dipendra had been fatally wounded when a rifle had inexplicably "exploded", killing the king and queen and their relatives, but other reports said Dipendra had mown them down before turning the weapon on himself.

He was said to have been angered that his mother would not allow him to marry the woman of his choice because astrologers had predicted it would lead to the early death of his father.

Dipendra had been proclaimed king despite the coma or suspicion of his involvement in the massacre, but died on Monday and Gyanendra immediately named Nepal's third king in four days.

He said a full investigation into the royal tragedy would be carried out and the findings made public.

"We will find the facts and bring the findings to public as soon as possible," he said in his first message to the nation, aired on state radio and television.

LATE KING ENJOYED GREAT POPULARITY

The late king, cremated along with his wife and family on the banks of the holy Bagmati river on Saturday, enjoyed great popularity in Nepal, particularly since he ceded absolute power in favour of a British-style constitutional monarchy in 1990.

Many saw him as holding together the impoverished country, racked by political infighting and Maoist insurgency in recent years.

Analysts say the royal massacre could have a major impact on stability in the nation of 22 million people, where Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala has faced violent street protests against his rule.

An influential local newspaper said it was time to end the mystery of Friday night's palace shooting.

"What happens to the monarchy is too important for the nation to be left to the palace alone," the Kathmandu Post said.

Hundreds of people passed the closed gates of the palace in central Kathmandu late on Sunday, bowing in respect. Others laid wreaths beside huge pictures of the royal couple that had been put up at crossroads.

A stream of mourners lit candles near the pictures at a road leading to the palace, sobbing and praying silently as they tried to overcome the shock of losing the king -- widely seen as the incarnation of the Hindu god Vishnu

In scenes reminiscent of Britain's mourning for Princess Diana in 1997, they laid flowers and cards. "To our beloved royal family," one said.

But most of all, they wanted an explanation.

"There is no credible official announcement. Nobody from the palace is speaking out a single word. The people of Nepal are very confused," said Mahinder Dhapa, one of some 200 men and women gathered in a protest.

HIMALAYAN KINGDOM OF MOUNTAINS

Nepal, once an almost compulsory pilgrimage for a generation of beatniks, is today better known as a starting point for mountaineers wanting to climb some of the world's highest peaks -- including Mount Everest.

It is also home to the Gurkhas, who make up some of the British army's most feared regiments.

Friday's tragedy was the worst massacre of royalty since the 1918 killings of the last tsar of Russia and his family by Bolshevik revolutionaries.

Dipendra, who was always likely to succeed his father had led a privileged life. Like his father, he attended at Eton school in Britain, where friends recall him as popular, but occasionally moody.

Gyanendra was briefly king as a toddler 50 years ago when Nepal was in a state of political upheaval.

On Monday he sat on a raised golden throne carved with a head of the king cobra -- the god of snakes -- who supposedly looks after monarchs.

Light drizzle fell on the courtyard as a royal priest placed a golden crown on the head of Gyanendra, who was clad in traditional Nepali dress -- a short kurta and cream coloured pants and jacket.

Mana Ranjanj Josse, a journalist who has written extensively on the royal family, said Gyanendra was a close confidant of his late brother but was a vastly different person.

"People who deal with him will find him to be a no-nonsense, firm man," he said

But Gyanendra has a son who will now become crown prince and who is not regarded highly in Nepal because of his wild lifestyle, press reports say.