In just 48 hours Nepal’s government crumbled from protest from Gen-Z. Their protest first started September 8th, a Monday. This started because their tyrannical, corrupted government put a ban on social media and Gen-Z strongly opposed this limitation. But the ban on social media was just the catalyst for this protest. Nepal’s nepotistic government has been abusing their citizens for years and their people couldn’t stand it anymore.
Their protest started just like the average protest in the United States, it started peacefully. They were protesting so they would be heard. The government’s response was to spray tear gas and shoot at them with water cannons. Still, the stubborn protesters stood their ground and continued the protest.
Then shots were fired. The police opened fire using rubber bullets. These bullets did not penetrate but did cause bodily harm, like excessive bleeding. During this schools were being evacuated with fearful children running from the unknown danger. By evening Nepal’s home minister lifted the ban on social media but this wasn’t enough for all the years of abuse.
The next morning, September 9th, Kathmandu was set ablaze. Police stations, luxury hotels, private homes, all of these burned and destroyed. The prime minister, K.P. Sharma Oli, resigned. Still this wasn’t enough and the previously peaceful protest, now violent, was still going strong. They took over the central building for political power, destroyed buildings, and took away objects of value.
As a result, on Wednesday September 10th, the military finally stepped in. They guarded the president’s building that, previously, people were starting fires in. The people who were destroying property and causing havoc were being imprisoned.
A couple of days later on September 12th, Nepal elected a new leader. Sushila Karki. There is a reason why the election of this new leader is strange and interesting. Sushila Karki is Nepal’s first female Prime Minister. She is also the first leader of any country to be chosen by a vote on a social media app, through polls on Discord. She got elected because she is a known political figure in Nepal who is against corruption.
Now, Nepal is focusing on rebuilding and getting rid of corruption in their government so that the quality of life for everyone in Nepal will be better.
Works Cited
Baskar, Pranav. “Nepal Protest GenZ Discord.” The New York Times, 11 Sept. 2025, www.nytimes.com/2025/09/11/world/asia/nepal-protest-genz-discord.html.
Beech, Hannah, and Bhadra Sharma. “Anti-Corruption Campaigner Named Nepal’s Leader After Gen Z Protests.” The New York Times, 12 Sept. 2025, www.nytimes.com/2025/09/12/world/asia/nepal-protests-leader-karki-gen-z.html.
“How Gen Z Took on Nepo Babies in Nepal.” YouTube, uploaded by Sky News, 3 Jan. 2025, www.youtube.com/watch?v=25BH3s6M7qY&t=200s.
