Hope comes from Courage
http://nomadsteve.travellerspoint.com/6/
Though day three was also when the maoists started cracking down on anyone defying the Bandh. My local cafe, which had been about the only one in the area staying open, was threatened with smashed windows and beatings if they were caught open again. There were some reports from elsewhere in the city of shop owners bashed and shops trashed for defying the strike.
After a few days tensions had returned. Violence was spreading and everyone had had enough of the strike. A few people were killed, food was getting scarce, the poor were struggling with no income, and disease was spreading. "Peace" rallies were staged, consisting mostly of normal people with no political affiliation urging an end to the Bandh and for the political parties to reach an agreement. One of these rallies was staged in the Kathmandu Durbur Square, one block from my hotel. We could here the chanting, and could see on the TV that tens of thousands had filled the square. This one was peaceful, but as i left the hotel i was met by hundreds of waiting riot police armed with shields, batons and tear-gas launchers. Luckily they weren't needed that day. I tried to bypass the rallies, but they had spread into surrounding streets. The sound of 100,000 people chanting is quite impressive. Unfortunately a couple of these rallies in other parts of Kathmandu turned into violent clashes as Maoists attempted to shut them down, leading to overturned vehicles and numerous hospitalisations. The newspapers were full of quite graphic pictures of injured maoists, protesters and police.
That evening people were worried again. Things seemed to be going downhill rapidly. The Maoists seemed to be digging their heels in, stating during the afternoon that they were nearing their goal, that the prime minister was close to resigning. It was then a complete surprise to everyone that that night the Maoists unexpectedly called an end to the strike.
