Dear friend,

Nepal stands at the brink. A mass movement for democracy has thrown
down a gauntlet to the King who usurped power from an elected
assembly fourteen months ago.

A general strike for democracy has entered its third week and, so
far, at least nine protesters have been killed and many thousands
have been injured. On the King's orders, the army and police have
fired both plastic bullets and live rounds at protesters. Everyday
there are indiscriminate beatings and tear gassing. Leaders of the
political parties opposed to the King have been rounded up and
imprisoned. Journalists who have dared to challenge restrictions to
their right to report the truth have been told that they will be
interned for up to three months.

While the army and police are heavily equipped and dressed in
armoured riot gear, the people they brutalise are dressed in T-shirts
and sandals. Those who so bravely put their lives on the line as part
of a fight for democratic rights expect and deserve the support of
trade unionists, human rights activists and anti-globalisation
protesters in the West. In the last week there have been solidarity
protests around the world, and these are reported by some of the news
outlets that reach the Nepalese people.

Therefore, we call for an emergency protest in solidarity with the
Nepalese movement for democracy. This protest will be both a
condemnation of the violence used against the democracy movement
and a celebration of the resistance of the Nepali people. Therefore, it will
continue even if the King grants concessions in the meantime.

We will picket the Royal Nepalese Embassy, 12a Kensington Palace Gardens, London W8 on Saturday 29 April, 2006 at 1pm. It would mean a lot if you could join us and spread the word.

Please bring banners and placards with you.

In solidarity,

Dr Arjun Karki
President of the NGO Federation of Nepal and co-author of The People's War in Nepal

David Seddon
Professor of Development Studies, University of East Anglia and co author of The People's War in Nepal, Nepal in Crisis, Peasants and Workers in Nepal

Jonathan Neale
author of Tigers of the Snow

Yuri Prasad
editor Socialist Review

South Asia Solidarity Group