Nepal Cancels International Women’s Day Celebrations

Nepal’s national labour centers GEFONT and NTUC, along with ICEM affiliates, had received permission from the district administrator to conduct silent commemorations on International Women’s Day, 8 March. Banners and placards declaring support for gender equality in the workplace and in society were to be displayed by hundreds of trade union activists in Katmandu and in towns and cities across Nepal. But late the night of 7 March, security forces cancelled the permit and intermittent demonstrations the next day were met by baton-charging riot police. Some 226 arrested.