Nepal police clear checkpoint blockade

Nepal police on Monday burned down tents and baton-charged scores of demonstrators who had blocked a key Indian border checkpoint, creating crippling fuel shortages, a protest organiser at the scene said.

"Police beat up demonstrators this morning and burned down our tents, forcibly opening the border to allow trucks to move across," said Shiva Patel, general secretary of the regional Sadbhawana party, which participated in the blockade.

Ethnic minority protesters angered by Nepal's new constitution had blocked a bridge crossing in the town of Birgunj since September 24, cutting off vital supplies and forcing nationwide fuel rationing.

"The government called our leaders for talks in Kathmandu, but this police action shows that they are two-faced and not committed to dialogue," Patel told AFP.

The movement of cargo across Birgunj, around 90 kilometres (55 miles) south of Kathmandu, and other Indian border checkpoints slowed to a crawl since the protests kicked off.

That has prompted authorities in Kathmandu to accuse New Delhi of backing the demonstrators and imposing an "unofficial blockade" to register its dissatisfaction with the new constitution.

New Delhi has denied the claims and has urged dialogue with protesters, who belong to the Madhesi ethnic minority and have close cultural, linguistic and family ties to Indians living across the border.

The constitution, the first drawn up by elected representatives, was meant to cement peace and bolster Nepal's transformation to a democratic republic after decades of political instability and a 10-year Maoist insurgency, but it instead sparked deadly violence.

More than 40 people have been killed in clashes between police and ethnic minority protesters, who say a new federal structure laid out in the charter adopted in September will leave them under-represented in parliament.