LAMJUNG: Chinese nationals have clashed with locals at Thulobesi of Marsyangdi rural municipality-6 in the district on Tuesday morning.
The situation took a nasty turn after locals protested when the construction materials were brought into the village during the lockdown.
The clashes between the two groups occurred when the locals protested after the two trucks laden with construction materials arrived at the Nyadi Hydropower, said Dilmaya Thapa, a representative of Ward no. 6.
According to Nabin Kuinkel, a journalist, locals lost their temper after the under-construction hydropower brought the construction materials by clearing the barbed wire put up along the road.
Locals have said that they came into blows with Chinese nationals after they brought the construction materials at a time when the entire country is under lockdown.
Fearing the infection of coronavirus, locals took to the streets against the Chinese nationals after they intensified their activities defying the lockdown.
Meanwhile, police intervened in the clash to preempt the untoward situation.
It looks that when the villagers tried to suggest the Chinese nationals to refrain from moving during the lockdown, the Chinese got into a confrontation with the locals.
Around 30 of them went to the project site and returned with khukuris targeting the locals agitating the local further.
A local Karan Thapa said the Chinese took to retaliation when the local administration objected to their violation of the lockdown. “The locals protested after the Chinese violated the government’s instruction to refrain from coming out of the house,” he said.
The police have called for a meeting between the two sides to seek a solution. However, the locals have to complain that the incident portrays the bullish, aggressive and arrogant attitude of the Chinese.
To be able to pick up khukuris to attack local Nepali villagers is reflective of the way the Chinese view the Nepalese people while working in the Nepali land.
This aggressive and rude attitude of the Chinese needs to be seen in the backdrop of an incident last year when a large number of Nepali workers were sent back from Taklakot in Tibet because a Nepali worker had murdered a Chinese woman.
More than 500 Nepalese workers were sent back during that period just because one of them had committed a crime. Nepali workers had then protested saying why should all of them suffer because of a single person’s misdeed.
However, the Chinese side treated the entire group as one and blamed them for the action of an individual. The latest move portrays Chinese attitude as they tend to act as an authority as in their land in Nepal as well.
It should be noted that Wang Yun Peng, a Chinese businessman, had attacked a taxi driver in Thamel on March 13, 2020, alleging the latter of parking his taxi in front of his hotel. Locals of the area had retaliated the Chinese move fuelling confrontation between the two sides.
Comment