Smoke billows from the burning Hilton hotel, a day after it was set ablaze by protesters in Kathmandu.PRABIN RANABHAT/AFP/Getty Images
From inside a hotel in Kathmandu, two Canadian physicians watched outside their window as smoke billowed from the nearby Hilton hotel and the streets swelled with demonstrators.
Dr. Kevin Bezanson, a palliative care specialist from Thunder Bay, and retired physician Stuart Brown, described the chaos and unrest that unravelled in the streets outside their hotel, with protesters setting things on fire.
“I would say we’re in a bit of a breath-holding moment where it will depend a little bit whether whatever path is chosen is satisfactory to the youth who basically led this revolution of sort,” Dr. Bezanson said.
Dr. Bezanson arrived in Nepal late Monday night, his taxi taking him through streets that were eerily quieted by a curfew. When his colleague Dr. Brown arrived later, demonstrators threw stones at his taxi.
While Mr. Bezanson was on his flight to Nepal, massive anti-corruption protests led by young people in the country erupted on the streets, prompted by a government ban on social media, but reflecting wide discontent among young people with the government.
The demonstrations escalated with protesters lighting government buildings and politicians’ homes ablaze. The prime minister resigned. And police fired into crowds of protesters. At least 25 people have been killed and 633 people have been injured, according to the health ministry. The military imposed a curfew and are patrolling the streets. Their representatives have met with protest leaders who want former chief justice Sushila Karki to be appointed their transitional leader.
Dr. Bezanson and Dr. Brown had travelled to Nepal on behalf of Two Worlds Cancer Collaboration, a Canadian charity that works to develop equitable access to compassionate end-of-life care. Dr. Bezanson volunteers with the organization and Dr. Brown, who was born in Scotland but has dual citizenship, is a director. They had planned to celebrate with their Nepali colleagues the 25th anniversary of Hospice Nepal, and to work with them to expand palliative care across the country.
“It’s a humanitarian initiative in that regard, to work together to provide good palliative care, good pain relief and end of life care across Nepal,” Dr. Brown said. “We came on this occasion to really build up some centres of education that already exist but to improve them and to spread them into eastern Nepal, which has no palliative care for 11 million people and work with other groups.”
“So, we came here to move things ahead and of course we’ve been to some extent frustrated by the fact that we’ve got to stay mostly in the hotel because there’s a curfew and there’s been burning and rioting and stuff,” Dr. Brown said. He added that it’s been intimidating, looking out the window and seeing large crowds smashing and burning things.
Dr. Bezanson said Tuesday was particularly distressing when it wasn’t clear how things would unfold, with streets filling with demonstrators and buildings on fire. He said he’s never been in a situation like this one before, and there have been moments when he’s been afraid for his safety.
The activity outside their hotel had quieted down on Wednesday, Dr. Bezanson said, adding that the military had been driving and patrolling the streets.
“We can still see fire, the remnants of some fires burning, and then the Hilton hotel has been burning all day. It’s very sad,” he said.
Dr. Bezanson said that after the prime minister resigned, the angry demonstration seemed to morph into a celebratory mood. But from their hotel, they can still see remnants from the chaos.
Dr. Bezanson said he had planned to spend about three weeks in Nepal, while Dr. Brown had planned to stay for a week. Dr. Brown said that as he watched demonstrators light fires in the streets, he did start thinking about how they might get out, but at the same time, he views it as important to be there to support their Nepali colleagues.
“We’ll try and accomplish some of the things that we set out to do, perhaps on a smaller scale, a few visits and a few lectures and things,” Dr. Brown said, adding: “We need to carry on doing good stuff, including palliative care, no matter what, and we can’t let this get in the way of it.”
With a report from the Associated Press