Nepal opposition, rebels vow more anti-monarchy action

~ Angry crowds took to the streets demanding the restoration of democracy to the Himalayan nation.

KATMANDU, Nepal -- The crisis in this Himalayan nation deepened Sunday as angry crowds demanding the restoration of democracy took to the streets across Nepal in defiance of a daytime curfew, throwing stones at security forces and burning government offices.

With King Gyanendra and his swelling opposition both refusing to back down, the situation appeared to be reaching its most volatile point since he seized absolute power more than a year ago. The well-armed communist insurgency has allied itself with the political opposition, which vowed Sunday to continue demonstrations indefinitely. The government warned of harsher measures in response.

Security forces have killed three protesters, including one in Sunday's gunfire, and thrown more than 800 in jail during four days of demonstrations that for the first time brought thousands of workers, professionals and business people into the streets alongside students and political activists.

Massive participation

"Even the parties didn't expect such a massive public participation across the country," said Lok Raj Baral, executive chairman of the Nepal Centre for Contemporary Studies and a retired diplomat.

Across the country and throughout the day, Nepalis protested in defiance of a daylight curfew and official orders to shoot violators on sight.

There were protests in at least four different parts of the capital, Katmandu. Some demonstrators threw stones at police before being forced back by tear gas. The private Kantipur television station broadcast footage of police shooting rubber-coated bullets, hitting at least one protester.

The station also showed protesters burning cars in Katmandu and looting city council buildings in a suburb.

The protests, part of a four-day nationwide strike, were to end Sunday but instead the king's opponents announced that they would continue, with no end in sight.

The Maoist rebels were supporting a strike by the political opposition for the first time, although the two sides struck an alliance late last year. The rebels' leader, Prachanda, on Sunday announced a nationwide campaign to include defying curfew orders, blockading highways, breaking royal statues and punishing all those who pay taxes.

The demonstrations will be "long-drawn. I can't say how this will end," said Ram Sharan Mahat of the country's largest party, the Nepali Congress, one of seven parties that have banded together to oppose Gyanendra. "The king must restore democracy," he said.

Saturday was the 16th anniversary of the introduction of democracy in Nepal.

, which came about after dozens of pro-democracy demonstrators were shot by police, prompting a surge of anti-royal sentiment and forcing the late King Birendra to yield much of his authority.

Gyanendra abruptly ended the democratic experiment last year when he reclaimed absolute power from other parts of the government, arguing he needed to bring order to a chaotic and corrupt political scene and end a communist insurgency that has killed nearly 13,000 people in the past decade.

Many Nepalis at first welcomed the king's move. But the insurgency has only worsened and the economy has faltered.

The latest death came in the town of Banepa, just east of Katmandu, when security forces fired on protesters hurling stones and shouting slogans, said an official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.

A day earlier, two demonstrators were shot and killed in separate incidents by security forces that were also being pelted with stones.

"The government has no support base ... so the use of force is its last resort," said Baral, the Nepal expert and retired diplomat. "But force has not been able to scare the protesters."

More than 2,000 people rallied in the southern town of Bharatpur, about 90 miles southwest of Katmandu, angered by the shooting of a demonstrator there by security forces a day earlier.

The government on Sunday said it was cracking down on the protests because communist militants had fired on security forces from among the crowds, despite the rebels' pledge not to launch attacks in the capital during the opposition strike.

Four known Maoists were among the 800 people arrested, and they had told authorities that militants had infiltrated the protests and planned to carry out attacks, Home Minister Kamal Thapa told reporters.

The government's crackdown on the opposition has prompted condemnations from the United States, Japan, the European Union and neighboring India, all of which have been critical of the king's seizure of power.

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Associated Press reporter Binaj Gurubacharya contributed to this report.