Kathmandu, Nepal - Nepal's army took back control of Kathmandu on Wednesday after the worst violence in two decades ousted the prime minister and left the parliament ablaze, enforcing a curfew and starting talks with protest leaders.
Soldiers patrolled the streets of the capital seeking to end the deadly protests this week, chaos during which police said more than 13,500 prisoners escaped jail countrywide.
Armoured personnel carriers rumbled past the carcasses of burnt vehicles and buildings on the largely quiet streets, with officers issuing orders via loudspeakers calling for calm during the political vacuum.
Nepali Army chief General Ashok Raj Sigdel held "consultations with related stakeholders and held a meeting with representatives of Gen Z," Rajaram Basnet said, referring to the loose umbrella title of the young protesters, but without giving further details.
Shushila Karki, 73, a former Supreme Court chief justice who many see as a potential interim leader, said the dialogue between parties was critical.
"Experts need to come together to figure out the way forward", Karki told AFP. "The parliament still stands."
- 'Wrong fight' -
Demonstrations began Monday in the capital against the government's ban on social media and over corruption, driven by angry young protesters who dubbed themselves the "Gen Z" movement.
But they escalated into an outpouring of rage nationwide with government buildings set on fire after at least 19 people were killed in a deadly crackdown.
The rapid descent into chaos shocked many, and Nepal's military warned against "activities that could lead the country into unrest and instability".
Two policemen were killed on Tuesday, as well as the mass jailbreak, police spokesman Binod Ghimire said.
On the fire-blackened wall of Nepal's parliament building, protesters had daubed an obscene farewell message to the toppled government, telling them that they had picked "the wrong fight" -- and signed it "Gen Z".
Kathmandu's airport resumed operations on Wednesday, the civil aviation authority said.
- 'Bad deeds' -
Gangs on Tuesday had attacked and set fire to the house of KP Sharma Oli, the 73-year-old, four-time prime minister and leader of the Communist Party.
He later quit to allow "steps towards a political solution". His whereabouts are not known.
Retired police officer Dev Kumar Khatiwada, 60, chatting with friends at a tea stall said the ousted government had only itself to blame.
"This is the result of our leaders' bad deeds," he said, but adding he condemned the wanton destruction that saw major buildings set on fire.
"Vandalism was never a proper way out of this problem."
The International Crisis Group called it a "major inflection point in the country's uneasy experience with democratic rule".
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has urged "restraint to avoid a further escalation of violence", his spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in a statement.
What happens next is unclear.
"The protesters, leaders who are trusted by them and the army, should come together to pave the way for a caretaker government," constitutional lawyer Dipendra Jha told AFP.
Crisis Group analyst Ashish Pradhan echoed that, saying a "transitional arrangement will now need to be charted out swiftly and include figures who still retain credibility with Nepalis, especially the country's youth".
More than a fifth of people aged 15-24 are unemployed in Nepal, according to the World Bank, with GDP per capita just $1,447.
Several social media sites -- including Facebook, YouTube and X -- were blocked on Friday, after the government cut access to 26 unregistered platforms, before they were restored.
Videos contrasting the struggles of ordinary Nepalis with the children of politicians flaunting luxury goods and expensive vacations have gone viral on TikTok, which was not blocked.
