Oli said Monday that the protester deaths and injuries would be investigated, and that families of those killed would be compensated and those who were injured would receive free treatment.
The government of neighboring India, where there are hundreds of thousands of Nepali migrant workers, said Tuesday that it was “deeply saddened by the loss of many young lives” and urged restraint and the use of peaceful means and dialogue.
The government of Nepal, a democracy of about 30 million people that abolished its monarchy in 2008, said earlier Tuesday that it was lifting the social media ban, which included some of the world’s largest platforms including Facebook, X and YouTube.
Officials said the companies had failed to comply with a new requirement to register and submit to government oversight under legislation aimed at ensuring the platforms were “properly managed, responsible and accountable.” Rights groups have criticized the move as a way for the government to restrict freedom of speech and silence dissenters.
The rally on Monday has come to be known as the “Gen Z” protest, in reference to the generation of people born from 1995 to 2010 who are heavy social media users.
TikTok, Viber and three other platforms that registered have continued to operate uninterrupted, according to The AP. TikTok was previously banned in Nepal in 2023 for disrupting “social harmony,” but the ban was lifted at Oli’s instruction last year after the company agreed to comply with local laws, including a 2018 ban on all pornographic sites.
Oli, 73, had served as prime minister four different times, including from 2015 to 2016 and 2018 to 2021. He was briefly reappointed in 2021 and began his most recent term in July 2024, becoming Nepal’s fifth prime minister in five years.
