Nepal's Gen Z protesters brought down a government in under 48 hours – but the victory has come at a heavy price.
"We are proud, but there is also a mixed baggage of trauma, regret and anger," says Tanuja Pandey, one of the protest organisers.
With 72 people killed, last week's protests were the deadliest unrest in the Himalayan country in decades. Official buildings, residences of political leaders and luxury hotels such as the Hilton, which opened in July 2024, were torched, vandalised and looted. The wife of a former prime minister is fighting for her life after their home was set ablaze.
The protests represented "a wholesale rejection of Nepal's current political class for decades of poor governance and exploitation of state resources", said Ashish Pradhan, a senior adviser at the International Crisis Group. But the damage to government services, he added, could "parallel the toll of the 2015 earthquake which took almost 9,000 lives".
The destruction is not only confined to the capital Kathmandu - at least 300 local government offices across the nation have been damaged.
