In pictures: Kathmandu drowns in grief as young ‘revolutionaries’ laid to rest draped in national flag

Anti-corruption Gen Z protesters who died during violent agitation are being given a martyrs’ farewell, with hundreds turning up to pay their last respects.

Body of Mahen Budhathoki, draped in the Nepali flag, kept on the banks of Bagmati river at Pashupatinath Ghat for last rites. | Manisha Mondal/ThePrint

Kathmandu: Nepal is slowly returning to normal, but the families who lost their loved ones in the violent anti-corruption protests on 8-9 September say their lives are not going to be normal for a long time.

The countrywide demonstrations organised and led by Gen Z protesters lasted two days. It claimed more than 50 lives and led to massive damage to public property and infrastructure. Under pressure, Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli resigned. Amid the general chaos prevailing in the country, authorities clamped curfew and other restrictions as the army took control of the situation.

Former chief justice Sushila Karki was sworn in as interim prime minister Friday night.

The Gen Z protesters who lost their lives in the agitation were given a martyr’s farewell Saturday, their bodies draped in the national flag, and hundreds paying their last respect.

The last remains of Bhimraj Dhami, one of the deceased protesters, draped in the national flag of Nepal while being taken for cremation. | Manisha Mondal/ThePrint

Bhimraj Dhami’s wailing mother. The 28-year-old he was the youngest son the family, married a year ago. | Manisha Mondal/ThePrint

Bhimraj Dhami’s brothers grieving at the ghat. | Manisha Mondal/ThePrint

Bhimraj Dhami had gone to the demonstration with his friends despite his family’s objection. He never returned to his wife and three-year-old son. The 28-year-old local businessman died with a bullet shot in his chest.

Bhimraj Dhami’s mother and wife (pink sweater) at the ghat. | Manisha Mondal/ThePrint

Mahen Budhathoki’s friends at the cremation ghats. | Manisha Mondal/ThePrint

His close friends call him a revolutionary. But his family asks, who will take care of his wife and son now? “We have not heard anything about compensation or any relief from the government or anyone in a position of authority,” Thapa, a relative of Dhami, told ThePrint.

There is another body next to Dhami’s at the Pashupatinath crematorium in Kathmandu. Mahen Budhathoki’s story is quite similar to Dhami’s.

The grieving family members. | Manisha Mondal/ThePrint

People at the last rites of Gen Z protesters. | Manisha Mondal/ThePrint

The 22-year-old was a student of Koteshwor College and had plans to shift to Malta in Europe in a few months. He had found a job there. He was outside his college amid the protestors when he was shot in the neck.

Budhathok Mahen’s inconsolable mother at the steps of the Pashupatinath temple. | Manisha Mondal/ThePrint

Hundreds of people gather to bid farewell to Bhimraj Dhami and Budhathok Mahen. | Manisha Mondal/ThePrint

Mortuary officials said they received 38 bodies, including those of two foreign nationals, among them one Indian.

Body of Mahen Budhathoki kept on the banks of Bagmati river at Pashupatinath Ghat for last rites. | Manisha Mondal/ThePrint

The families of deceased GenZ protestors mourn their loss. | Manisha Mondal/ThePrint

The last rites are being conducted at the Pashupatinath crematorium in Kathmandu. | Manisha Mondal/ThePrint

At the Pashupatinath crematorium in Kathmandu. | Manisha Mondal/ThePrint

Body of Mahen Budhathoki kept on the banks of Bagmati river at Pashupatinath Ghat for last rites. | Manisha Mondal/ThePrint

Rajesh Gola, a 57-year-old woman from Ghaziabad, was trying to escape a hotel set afire by the protesters. She was with her husband when the protestors attacked the Hyatt hotel in Kathmandu. They jumped from the fourth floor onto a mattress. Gola’s husband has also sustained injuries.

(Edited by Ajeet Tiwari)