The Documentary Podcast · BBC World Service

Nepal - “Shot like enemies”

·27 min·1 clip
A leaked police log says permission to use necessary force came at 12.40, and shots were fired.
The scene begins quietly. The host is in Nepal with 17-year-old Shri Amchaulagai, heard playing with his dog, Jojo, before his mother describes the curious boy she knew. Then the episode moves from home into the street, building the day from video, Discord messages, and a leaked police radio log. At 12.40, the BBC says, a document that had not been public authorized police to use necessary force as protesters gathered at parliament. Shots followed. Online, people warned each other about live bullets. On the street, fear hardened into rage. Police were being pushed back. By 1.42, their own timeline had officers bleeding badly and afraid they might be killed outside the gates. The orders grow colder from there: open fire to establish safety and regain control. By 1.48, more people are being shot. The host keeps close to the evidence, minute by minute, putting police panic beside what protesters and a vlogger saw as it happened. Sulavraj Shrestha remains at the gates. He is 24, holding a sign against corruption, when Sanjeev Jang Chetri films him bleeding on the ground. Sulav cannot be saved. Protesters carry his body to the parliament gates, place it before the police, and cover it with Nepal's flag. Shri is there too. The episode sits with grief, fury, confusion, and state force, without flattening the day into one clean answer.
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