Nepal sets up panel to probe violence during anti-corruption protests

Nepal's interim government, led by former Chief Justice Sushila Karki, has set up a panel to investigate the violence during anti-corruption protests this month that killed 74 people and forced prime minister KP Sharma Oli to quit, a minister said on Monday.

The demonstrations, which began as a Gen Z-led movement against widespread corruption and a lack of jobs, escalated into the Himalayan nation's deadliest violence in decades.

More than 2,100 people were injured while protesters set fire to the main office complex that houses the prime minister's office, the Supreme Court and the parliament building as well as malls, luxury hotels and showrooms that the demonstrators said were owned by people close to corrupt politicians.

Rameshwore Khanal, who Karki put in charge of the finance ministry, said the three-member panel headed by retired judge Gauri Bahadur Karki had been given three months to complete the probe.

"It will investigate ... the loss of life and property during the protests, excesses by both sides and people involved in the acts of arson and vandalism during the movement," Khanal told Reuters.

In a social media post, former prime minister Oli also demanded an investigation into the violence and said his government did not order police to fire at the protesters.

"The protests were infiltrated by outsiders and police did not possess the type of weapons which were used to fire on the crowd," Oli said.

Karki is the former chairman of a special court that hears corruption cases in Nepal and has a reputation for honesty and integrity.

Nepal is assessing the multi-million dollar damage from violent protests, when parliament, government offices and a newly opened Hilton Hotel were set ablaze.

"So much has been destroyed," police spokesman Binod Ghimire told reporters, adding that it would take time to calculate the full extent of the damage, including outside the capital.

Karki, speaking as she began work last week, described the "widespread loss of lives and property."

At the Supreme Court, officials are working under tents outside the charred building, alongside rows of burned-out vehicles, trying to salvage water-soaked documents.

Losses were estimated at 25 billion Nepali rupees ($177 million), with more than 2,000 workers affected. Damage to the Hilton alone was put as high as $56 million.

Agencies