Kathmandu, Sept. 18 -- A security guard with Bhat-Bhateni Supermarket pleads with attackers not to destroy the store. In the widely-shared YouTube video, the mob can be seen surging ahead to ransack and set fire to the store anyway.

Twenty-one of the 28 Bhat-Bhateni outlets nationwide were vandalised and looted, 12 of them were completely gutted. The one at Boudha was smouldering for three days till 12 September.

Nepal's biggest supermarket chain is a target in just about every political upheaval in Nepal. The Koteswor branch was looted in the royalist protest in March. This time, the destruction was much more complete and widespread.

What began as a youth-led protest against corrupt leaders turned escalated into widespread looting and...