Chinese tourists attack on Nepal Police angsts Nepalese

By Binod Prasad Adhikari
Kathmandu [Nepal], May 9 : Anger has been spilling over social media platforms since Friday against China as a group of Chinese tourists stranded in Nepal due to coronavirus restrictions clashed with Nepal Police here.
A group of 50 Chinese tourists clashed with police who stopped them entering a prohibited zone of Singha Darbar that also houses the Prime Minister's Office. At least four police personnel injured in the clash where the Chinese tourists were demanding they be allowed to leave for their home.
"What if Nepali nationals attacked police in China??? What would happen to them? They will dare not in the first place. The attackers today knew Nepal's legal system and undermined the state security officials. They should be prosecuted," a twitter user @arunbudhathoki posted on Twitter.
Another Twitter user @neptirubi said, "I didn't get the thing. Why those Chinese didn't go to the Chinese Embassy instead of coming to Singhadurbar and staged on protest?"
Nepal Police on Friday had arrested over 45 Chinese nationals after the clash and has decided on to file a case against four of them and released the remaining.
In an attempt to defuse the situation and prevent anti-China sentiment, the local Sino Diplomatic mission in Kathmandu issued a release requesting its citizens to abide by the rules of the Himalayan Nation.
"The Chinese side has always demanded that the Chinese citizens in Nepal should strictly abide by the laws and regulations of Nepal, express reasonable demands rationally and in accordance with the laws," Chinese mission said in a statement.
Locals have expressed their disgruntlement over the incident.
"As a Nepali citizen, I feel like it's a great mistake (committed) by them and is a serious issue, we take it as a serious issue. This is not fair, like, any foreigner attacking our security personnel within or breaking into restricted areas. All of us are facing problems during pandemic, it is present all over the world, and this just isn't the way to tackle or solve the problem," Sneha KC, a local resident of Kathmandu told ANI.
"We have been under lockdown but yesterday (9th May) in front of Sigha durbar, clashes erupted between some Chinese nationals and Nepal Police. They were protesting in a restricted area and on top of that they attacked our police force, it is not acceptable. The Chinese (stranded tourists) should have taken care about it," Sabin Maharjan, another local from Kathmandu said.
Several months ago, the Chinese Mission in Nepal had objected to an image published along with a syndicated article by the Kathmandu Post where the founding father of People's Republic of China, Mao Zedong was portrayed wearing a mask on his face, denoting the spread of COVID-19.
Soon after, the Chinese Embassy in Nepal had threatened to take stringent measures against the Post's out-going editor, Anup Kaphle.