00:00This is with regards to the Nepal protest, what is also being called as the Gen Z revolution in Nepal.
00:07Visuals coming in. Concerning visuals at that, police in fact opened fire in Damak as Gen Z protest intensifies there.
00:16Few injured in police firing during the new Baneshwar protest.
00:20Injured in fact has been taken to the Everest civil and other hospitals at this point.
00:25Activists set up first aid camp in Mehdi Ghar.
00:28Social media ban sparks protest in Nepal which we have consistently been covering as it has come to highlight.
00:35The Gen Z revolution which was started against the OLLI government in Nepal against their social media ban.
00:41The new generation of the country has started demonstrations against the government's ban on social media and on corruption.
00:49Thousands of youth were seen marching on the streets shouting slogans as you can hear in the very background of these visuals that we bring to you.
00:57All against the government during their demonstrations which remember doesn't just restrict itself to Kathmandu at this point but has spread to several other centres across Nepal.
01:12During that demonstration the government had in fact disrupted phones and internet services for hours.
01:17And despite this very ban on social media the youth made some social media their media and called for demonstrations today.
01:25In fact when we spoke to a senior politician a few while ago he had said that provocations or messages about such a protest which was to happen had already been going around before they even implemented the very ban on the platforms.
01:40And that is how they ended up garnering such support bringing out so many youngsters to the streets to join the protests and the demonstrations.
01:50The youth currently seems angry frustrated with the ban on what we are gathering 26 social media accounts.
01:57Not all apps fall under the ambit of this ban but the important ones or rather the ones which are more widely used like Facebook, X, WhatsApp, YouTube.
02:09They have all been banned by the Nepalese government and now this is why the Gen Z revolution has started.
02:16These demonstrations have started in Nepal.
02:18Now let us also tell you this that this very ban was introduced by the government citing non-compliance issue and it was the Supreme Court of Nepal that came out to give this direction that the government can regulate the usage of these very platforms to address the non-compliance issue.
02:40And now these are the latest visuals.
02:42This is the current situation that we are seeing on the streets of Kathmandu.
02:48In fact, we were even being told by some journalists we were speaking to earlier who are currently in Kathmandu at this given point who came out to tell us that the parliament, these protesters had even reached the gates of the parliament.
03:02However, they couldn't breach those very gates.
03:04But the situation seems extremely intense given the kind of given the kind of visuals we are gathering.
03:11We see the anger being expressed.
03:13Students, youngsters running across the streets.
03:17We see police action in place as well where we are now gathering that there has been a shooting that has also taken place by the police officials given the situation getting out of hand in certain places.
03:29In fact, the shooting took place in Damak is what we are learning.
03:32But you can see the anger clear from these visuals from the protests, how these demonstrators have been going ahead to put forward their message, make their demands rather clear at this given point with regards to this very revolution.
03:51So, yes, these are the visuals that we are bringing to you of the Gen Z Nepal demonstration at this given point.
04:03If we are to just take you through some of these apps, it's Facebook, Instagram, X, WhatsApp, YouTube, Reddit, LinkedIn, which are widely used.
04:14So, which is also what conversations have been started around that in a day and age where content ends up bringing in revenues or in fact, a lot of young stars have their livelihoods depending on content production, which they push out.
04:29What is their future next, especially when we speak of Nepal, where do they go, how do they continue with their livelihoods with these apps being completely banned?
04:43There's also a concern of such widely used apps being banned where it pushes users to the dark web.
04:50Will we see such repercussions in Nepal?
04:53Well, that's a question that needs to be answered as well.
04:56But again, the senior politician also said that these revenues or rather these livelihoods are non-taxable.
05:02So, the revenues collected by the individual influencers, they have no taxes that are paid.
05:08So, the government doesn't get any revenue from the content production.
05:12So, there is not going to be any implication of this on the government's revenue per se, given that there is no direct revenue.
05:21But yes, it will affect the livelihoods of plenty and we can see that and that's not restricted just to youngsters,
05:29but also to all users out there of all age groups who push out content, the anger that you can see, barricades being pushed down,
05:41protesters running with their posters, raising their voice, several posters of the chief minister, of the prime minister, I beg your pardon,
05:51being defaced by these protesters across cities, several of them have been injured, as police has been taking actions.
06:01We can see water cannons being used against the protesters.
06:06In fact, now, shooting having also taken place, you can see the barricades being pushed down for the protesters on the other side to be brought in
06:15by those who have been able to breach these barricades in the first place.
06:20That is the kind of anger and in situations like this, when the public, when protesters, in fact, end up losing control almost at this given point
06:33that we can see from visuals, it gets concerning at this point.
06:38We have, in fact, been accessing several social media posts where a lot of Gen Z pages have also come out to say that for today,
06:45we have gained success.
06:46So, let us now return home and return home safely.
06:50But clearly, those messages have not made any effect on these protesters.
06:57We see the anger only intensifying with each passing minute.
07:01Sanjeeb Puyal, journalist, joining us back on the broadcast to, in fact, take us through the situation.
07:06Sanjeeb, the first question here would be with regards to the shooting that's taken place and police action at large.
07:13We see water cannons. We see these protesters breaching barricades, bringing them down, bringing protesters on the other sides.
07:20What exactly is the situation when we speak of police action?
07:23Yeah, actually, yeah, the police is definitely the main job of the police personnel is to provide security to the government buildings and the parliament.
07:35And the government was well prepared in advance.
07:38That's why they put this prohibited area and then didn't allow the protesters to broke that area.
07:45But the protests escalated so, like the protests actually intensified and the gathering was so massive that the protesters stormed, like broke the barricades and clasped with the police.
08:02And they started and they started and the protests really turned really, like, massively violent.
08:09And we can, you definitely, you could have, you, we have also seen a lot of visuals of the, these youths throwing whatever they find at their hands and even throwing back the, throwing back the, this tear gas canisters.
08:29Tear gas canisters being used, yes, we can see them in the visuals that we have access.
08:36But, you know, Sanjeev, I have to ask you this.
08:39There are some social media pages and they are Gen Z pages as well that are coming out to say that the protests today have been successful already for them to raise their voice and put the message across to the government.
08:50But there are several groups who are also involved in this protest with vested interests.
08:56What is that about?
08:57Can you take us through what is that about?
09:00Yeah, yeah.
09:02There are some of the, some of the people from the Gen Z, this protest group have said that we, that there must have been some infiltration of the people who do not belong to us.
09:14And we are not, not, not, not with, not aligned with our cause, but, but yeah, it is, right now it is, it's, it's not, we cannot say for sure, like whether the people from, whether the, there was infiltration of people from outside the group or not.
09:35Hmm.
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