Kathmandu: Succumbing to mounting pressure from the streets, Nepal’s government late Monday announced it was lifting its controversial ban on 26 social media platforms, including Facebook and X, after violent clashes left at least 20 people dead and more than 300 injured nationwide.
The decision came after an emergency cabinet meeting, where Minister for Communication and Information Prithvi Subba Gurung confirmed that access would be restored.
“The government has already decided to open social media by addressing the demand of Gen-Z,” Gurung said. However, he added that authorities did not regret the initial move to block the platforms. “Since protests were being staged using this issue as a pretext, the decision has been taken to reopen social media sites,” he said, urging young demonstrators to call off their agitation.
Just three days earlier, Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli had insisted he would “never bow down to Gen Z troublemakers,” even if it meant resigning from office. The reversal, therefore, marks a dramatic climbdown and highlights the scale of public anger.
The protests, initially driven online, spilled into the streets of Kathmandu and other major cities. Thousands of demonstrators—many young, some still in school uniforms—breached police barricades and attempted to storm parliament. Police responded with tear gas, rubber bullets, and live fire, sparking the deadliest unrest Nepal has seen in decades.
Home Minister Ramesh Lekhak resigned, citing “moral responsibility” for the bloodshed. Nepali Congress ministers, furious at Oli’s hard line, staged a walkout from the cabinet before the government relented.
Though the protests were branded a “Gen Z Revolution,” eyewitnesses stressed that they drew support from across generations—millennials, older citizens, and professionals—all united by broader grievances over corruption, misgovernance, and economic inequality.
By nightfall Monday, security forces, backed by the Nepal Army, enforced curfews across the capital and several border regions, including Bhairahawa near India. Officials said the situation was largely under control but warned of renewed unrest.
Analysts say the youth-led mobilization underscores a deeper shift: a digitally connected generation, unwilling to accept censorship, channelled long-simmering frustrations into a nationwide movement. The government’s attempt at control may have only deepened the demand for accountability and transparency in Nepal’s fragile democracy.
