Social Media Shutdown Triggers Deadly Nepal Riots

• By Thetripurapost Web Desk, Kathmandu
• Sep 08, 2025
• 670

At least 19 people were killed and more than 100 injured on Monday as Nepal was rocked by one of its deadliest waves of civil unrest in recent years. Police fired tear gas and rubber bullets in Kathmandu after protesters, mostly young students, attempted to storm parliament in defiance of a government crackdown on social media and mounting anger over corruption.

Some demonstrators broke through barricades to enter the parliament complex, setting fire to an ambulance and pelting riot police with stones and other objects.

“The police have been firing indiscriminately,” one protester told ANI. “(They) fired bullets which missed me but hit a friend standing behind me.”

More than 28 police officers were among the injured, said officer Shekhar Khanal, as motorcycles ferried wounded protesters to hospitals. Two deaths were also reported in the eastern city of Itahari, where marches turned violent.

Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli convened an emergency cabinet meeting as images of students in uniforms carrying banners such as “Unban social media” and “Shut down corruption, not our voices” spread across Kathmandu.

The unrest began after the government’s decision last week to block Facebook and several other platforms, citing “social harmony concerns.” With around 90% of Nepal’s 30 million citizens online, the move sparked fury among the country’s youth, who say the ban is an attack on free expression.

Organizers have called the uprising a “Gen Z protest,” arguing it reflects a generation’s frustration with corruption, lack of accountability, and shrinking economic opportunities.

“This is the protest by the new generation in Nepal,” one participant told ANI.

The demonstrations have now spread to other major cities, raising fears of a prolonged nationwide crisis.