KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP) - Police opened fire on protesters who tried to storm a police station in southern Nepal on Saturday, killing at least one person and wounding several others, officials said.
Hundreds of protesters tried to force their way into a police station at Kalaiya, a town about 160 kilometres south of the capital Kathmandu, prompting police to start shooting, said Bhola Siwakoti, the chief government administrator in the area.
Siwakoti said a curfew had been imposed in the town to stop violence from escalating.
The clashes in Kalaiya left at least 10 policemen injured as well as the same number of protesters, some with bullet wounds.
Violence has spread across southern Nepal since last week, triggered by activists who claim the region has long been left out of the government's development and policy-making decisions. They say such policies have focused more on people living in the Himalayan mountains to the north.
Six people have been killed in the week of violence.
Curfews have been imposed in at least six main towns in south and southeast Nepal to curb the violence, escalating demonstrations by residents who say the government has neglected their region's development and rights.
The trouble in southern Nepal began last week, when protests in the Lahan town ended with one person being killed. Four more died in violent demonstrations there earlier this week.
Protests have spread to other parts of the south, where daily life has been crippled by the curfews and a general strike called by protesters.
The protests have been organized by the Tarai People's Rights Forum, a group that says it is working for the rights of the people in Nepal's southern plains.
