Kathmandu, Jan. 25 -- In late December, as police arrested a protester at Mandala into a police van with some force, a tv camera caught a voice from the crowd yelling at the van as it drove away: "Don't kill him!"

This was not an exaggerated exclamation but one from genuine fear of harm because it followed the killing of two protesters outside a Korean labour recruitment office the previous day.

The Mandala is like Kathmandu's Hyde Park, and has over the years been the epicentre for all victims of the state machinery who have been denied justice. But after fears that pro-monarchy rallies would escalate, the government designated this and other areas restricted.

Since the ban, police have also arrested health and justice activist Govin...