Police and soldiers block opposition party supporters demonstrating against King Gyanendra in Patan, Nepal, Sunday, April 23, 2006. Nepali police clashed with thousands of anti-monarchy protestors Sunday in Katmandu, injuring at least three in the capital, as the Himalayan country's deepening crisis lead to more demonstrations, and more violence.
(AP Photo/Binod Joshi)
U.S. orders some workers out of nepal
WASHINGTON --The United States on Monday ordered all nonemergency embassy workers and their families to leave Nepal and urged American citizens to postpone travel to the Himalayan kingdom wracked by weeks of pro-democracy protests.
The State Department made the announcement shortly before embattled King Gyanendra, hoping to avoid a bloody showdown between his security forces and demonstrators, reinstated the lower house of Parliament and offered solace for those killed in the demonstrations.
State Department spokesman Adam Ereli told reporters at a daily briefing that nonemergency workers and their families would begin leaving the country whenever possible. The U.S. ambassador determines which workers are considered "nonemergency."
Ereli said the embassy would continue to "handle the business that needs to be taken care of, whether that involves servicing American citizens or working with the local authorities to deal with a crisis that they confront themselves."
He said Americans are not targets of the unrest.
But, he said, the large, sometimes violent demonstrations made it "important to advise Americans of the situation and to give them the kind of information that they need to take precautions for their safety."
Ereli estimated that there are hundreds of Americans in the Nepal.
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