KATHMANDU, Sept 10 (Agencies): Nepal's army took back control of Kathmandu on Wednesday after the worst violence in two decades ousted the prime minister and left the parliament ablaze, enforcing a curfew and starting talks with protest leaders.
Soldiers patrolled the streets of the capital seeking to end the deadly protests this week, chaos during which police said more than 13,500 prisoners escaped jail countrywide.
The death toll from the protests had risen to 25 by Wednesday, Nepal's health ministry said, while 633 were injured.
Most of the protesters were young people voicing frustration at the government's perceived failure to fight corruption and boost economic opportunities, leading to the demonstrations being dubbed the "Gen Z protests".
Armoured personnel carriers rumbled past the carcasses of burnt vehicles and buildings on the largely quiet streets, with officers issuing orders via loudspeakers calling for calm during the political vacuum.
Nepali Army chief General Ashok Raj Sigdel held "consultations with related stakeholders and held a meeting with representatives of Gen Z," Rajaram Basnet said, referring to the loose umbrella title of the young protesters, but without giving further details.
The young agitators want former Chief Justice Sushila Karki as the interim prime minister, said Raman Kumar Karna, the secretary of the Supreme Court Bar Association, who was consulted by the protesters.
"When they requested me, I accepted," Karki told Indian TV news channel CNN-News18.
"Gen Z" representatives told reporters that they met army officials later and proposed Karki as their choice to head an interim government.
Burnt-out vehicles and twisted metal littered the area around parliament, where army firefighters battled to douse a blaze in the main hall, while the building's exterior was charred after protesters set it ablaze on Tuesday.
TV footage showed youths cleaning up some damaged buildings and clearing debris from roads and the areas near parliament.
Shushila Karki, 73, a former Supreme Court chief justice who many see as a potential interim leader, said the dialogue between parties was critical.
"Experts need to come together to figure out the way forward", Karki told AFP. "The parliament still stands."
Demonstrations began Monday in the capital against the government's ban on social media and over corruption, driven by angry young protesters who dubbed themselves the "Gen Z" movement.
But they escalated into an outpouring of rage nationwide with government buildings set on fire after at least 19 people were killed in a deadly crackdown.
The rapid descent into chaos shocked many, and Nepal's military warned against "activities that could lead the country into unrest and instability".
Two policemen were killed on Tuesday, as well as the mass jailbreak, police spokesman Binod Ghimire said.
On the fire-blackened wall of Nepal's parliament building, protesters had daubed an obscene farewell message to the toppled government, telling them that they had picked "the wrong fight" -- and signed it "Gen Z".
Kathmandu's airport resumed operations on Wednesday, the civil aviation authority said.
Gangs on Tuesday had attacked and set fire to the house of KP Sharma Oli, the 73-year-old, four-time prime minister and leader of the Communist Party.
He later quit to allow "steps towards a political solution". His whereabouts are not known. Retired police officer Dev Kumar Khatiwada, 60, chatting with friends at a tea stall said the ousted government had only itself to blame.
"This is the result of our leaders' bad deeds," he said, but adding he condemned the wanton destruction that saw major buildings set on fire.
"Vandalism was never a proper way out of this problem."
The International Crisis Group called it a "major inflection point in the country's uneasy experience with democratic rule".
