Shot Like Enemies: Inside Nepal's Gen Z uprising - BBC World Service Documentaries

They’re shooting from that side! The crowd has gone crazy! Another man down! Someone's died! Look at this... Oh my God! Can the government be this callous? Nepal - September 8th, 2025. On the streets of Kathmandu, Gen Z protesters call for change... ..and are met with tear gas and live fire. Over the next few hours, 19 young Nepalis, including a teenager wearing school uniform, are shot dead by their own security forces. Anger at these deaths ignites a second day of protest. Yesterday they killed students, Gen Zs! Now you know what Gen Zs are capable of! And this time, it cannot be contained. Drawing on more than 4,000 videos filmed on the streets, testimony from police and protesters, and an exclusive leaked record of police radio, BBC Eye pieces together a forensic account of the most dramatic two days in Nepal's recent history. We reveal how Nepali authorities lost control of this protest... ..who gave the order to open fire? And ask how Nepal's police, army and politicians failed a generation desperate for change. Behind those 48 hours of rage and bloodshed lay years of quiet frustration. Nepal abolished its monarchy in 2008 after a decade-long civil war. In 2015, a new constitution promised a fresh start. But ten years on, that promise has not yet been realised. Around one in five young Nepalis are unemployed. For millions, migration is the only option. The country remains mired in debt and economic dependence. On the face of things, government shifts between the three main political parties. But for many young Nepalis, the same group of elderly politicians cling to power year after year. 26-year-old Rakshya Bam is one of the many Gen Z students who feel democracy has fallen short. The sacrifices and future of the Nepali people have been held hostage by one person’s arrogance and misrule. Our generation was exasperated by the behaviour of leaders who’ve been here forever. They never tried to understand the voices on the streets. The global “nepo baby” trend came to Nepal. The global “nepo baby” trend came to Nepal. It showed the difference between the lifestyle of the politicians and their families and normal people. We wake up, work hard, pay taxes. But those in power, they keep on stealing. Social media trends started. Leaders and their families were being exposed. It is time we call out these people and make these people feel accountable for their choices. That message struck a chord with millions of young people, like 17-year-old Shreeyam Chaulagain, known as Banku to the family... ..who joined the debate on social media. He often took his parents, Ganesh Chaulagain and Ganga Karki, by surprise. When I’d tell him my opinion on the news, he’d interject. He’d say the country was in peril and corruption had hollowed it out. He followed countless news sources without my knowing. He was far more informed than I was. On the 4th of September, alarmed by the scale of dissent voiced online, the government took a drastic decision. Now, news from Nepal. The country has cracked down on a number of social media platforms, including Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, X... Last night, puff, the platform, it's all gone. Online, this conversation was blazing. We have so many problems in Nepal, but they think, yeah, let's ban social media, that's going to fix the country. Why are these idiots running the country? Doesn't that seem like a coincidence? It feels kind of shady. Like, the platform that people use to criticise the rich, spoilt kids just got banned right when it was starting to trend. But in the halls of power, Nepal's political establishment was in a state of denial. Are we estranged from the people? Do people no longer support us? The truth is - we are at the heart of people's hopes. Even as the speeches went on, the ground was shifting. Despite the government ban, Gen Z found other platforms like Discord and TikTok to share hashtags and memes, channelling their anger over corruption and poor governance. Sri Lanka did it. Indonesia did it. Of course we are Nepali, we are Gorkhalis. We also can do it, guys. Let's raise our voice together. Within days, plans for a nationwide protest were circulating. A Discord server, Youths Against Corruption, emerged as the central hub for coordination and discussion. Organisers agree on a meeting point - 9:00am, Maitighar Mandala in central Kathmandu. The next morning, Rakshya is on the front line. We are not going to damage state property We will raise our voice in peace Are we all ready for the protest? We are ready! Woo! At around 10:30, the crowd moves forward along Madan Bhandari Road. Government intelligence had predicted 3,000 protesters, but tens of thousands turn out. KP thief! Leave the country! Many are wearing school uniform, believing it might offer a kind of protection. Here we come! Here we come Gen Z! The protesters are heading for Nepal's parliament. But before they get there, they hit a barricade. Some 200 police are now face-to-face with thousands of protesters... ..and the mood starts to turn. At 11:47, a group of demonstrators finds a way around the cordon. The police, taken by surprise, abandon the barricade... ..and the crowd surges towards Parliament. The organisers had called for a peaceful protest, but already, this was getting out of hand. The tragedy that followed was captured in more than 4,000 videos and pictures taken by journalists, bystanders and protesters. We spent months collecting and analysing this evidence, as well as sourcing exclusive accounts from police. We can now bring you the most detailed account yet of exactly what happened on September 8th, at the gates of Nepal's parliament. At 11:58, protesters face off against armed police. Most of the crowd is peaceful but at the front line, tensions spill into violence. Some protesters climb onto the roof above the entrance gate to parliament. At 12:15, one group breaches the wall. They are quickly pushed back by police. On Discord, some protesters start to worry. In the crowd, we spot Shreeyam. He's here against his mother's wishes. He told us about the protest the day before. I told him not to go. Things can happen at these protests. He said: “It’s for the Gen Z youth. I’ll be in my uniform.” “As we are minors, nobody will do anything to us.” He's holding a banner that reads... But not everyone is as peaceful. At 12:30, a curfew is declared. The gathering is now illegal. Word spreads from phone to phone. Do not move forward! Curfew has been imposed! Use your batons! Advance! Use your batons. - Shoot me if you can! But the curfew seems to make things worse. Police fire tear gas and rubber bullets. Argh! But their response is chaotic. Some even throw stones back at protesters. Seeing the gatehouse on fire, panicked officers radio for help, asking their superiors for permission to use live ammunition. We know this because the BBC has obtained a leak of the police radio log that day. This document has never been made public. It reveals that it's now, at 12:40, that the authorisation to use force is given. That order marked a turning point. Over the next two hours, at least six protesters will be shot, five of them fatally. We're going to slow down here and show you the details of those shootings. The first takes place at the corner of the parliamentary complex. The victim is 34-year-old Binod Maharjan. We found no video of the shooting, but at 1:15... ..we see Binod carried away with a critical injury to the head. He dies later at hospital. On Discord, news of live fire spreads quickly. And on the streets, anger escalates to fury. The police are overwhelmed. One group is cornered outside the gates. At 1:42, our police timeline records the panic among officers. "Police bleeding profusely and about to be killed. "Shooting at main gate may be necessary." The assault lasts for four minutes. Eventually, they use tear gas to drive back the crowd... ..and retreat into the grounds of parliament. Guys, look. People wanted a revolution for a change. We're being showered with bullets. We don’t know how many have died. At the same time, watching the state of the police, I feel pity. The next order to come through police radio is unambiguous. "Open fire to establish safety, "regain control of situation." The next person to be shot is 27-year-old Kamal Ghimire. At 1:48, we find him on the opposite side of the avenue. This is the view from Kamal's own phone. He records a group of police officers, at least two of whom are armed with handguns. Kamal then walks away from the front lines. His camera captures this man... ..throwing a stone at police. And then... ..Kamal falls. We have found another view of this incident. Here is Kamal. The man throwing the stone. And the moment Kamal is shot. His medical report states that the bullet entered beneath his left arm and exited through his back. We do not know the precise trajectory, but we can see the general direction from which this bullet was fired, and it points toward the same group of police Kamal Ghimire had filmed just moments before. The bullet missed Kamal's spine by millimetres. He survived. At almost the same moment, 200 metres to the west, another young man is shot. This is 22-year-old Rashik Khatiwada earlier in the day. His T-shirt says - "We Want Leaders, Not Looters." We do not know exactly when Rashik is shot or from where, but at 1:53... ..a protester's phone captured these images of Rashik being carried away... ..with a bullet wound to his chest. He died of this injury. He was 22. By this time, accounts on Discord are urging demonstrators to leave. But 24-year-old Sulabh Raj Shrestha stays at the parliament gates. He's carrying a sign that says - "No More Corruption." We see him here wearing the blue backpack, observing the confrontation at the gate. Seconds later, just a few steps away... This is the situation... The police have been... Look at this... Oh my God! ..Sulabh is dead. Realising that he could not be saved, protesters carry Sulabh to the gates. They lay his body on the road directly in front of police... ..and cover it in Nepal's flag. Among those who witnessed the shooting was 17-year-old Shreeyam Chaulagain, the boy in school uniform. Minutes later, closer to the junction... ..we catch Shreeyam again. Ahead of him, a group of protesters is pelting the police with stones. Shreeyam turns away from the violence and moves back towards the junction. These are the last steps he takes. Moments later, another phone captures images which go viral across Nepal. Bleeding heavily from a gunshot wound to the back of the head, Shreeyam is carried across the road. Bystanders lift him into an ambulance, but it's too late. By the time he arrives at the national trauma centre, Shreeyam is dead. He's the youngest victim shot outside Nepal's parliament on September 8th. Nepal's Gen Z protesters have always maintained that Binod, Rashik and Shreeyam were killed by police, but none of those shootings was captured on camera. The next person to be killed, Yogendra Nyaupane, is shot just a few steps away. And this time, we have the clearest evidence yet that as Yogendra fell, shots were being fired from inside the grounds of parliament. Just 90 seconds before the shooting... Check out what’s happening inside the Parliament. ..vlogger Nishedh Dahal turned his camera towards the grounds of parliament. You can see armed police there. Pay attention to this group of police officers. At exactly 14:21, they moved towards the wall separating parliament from the street. They’re dispersing the crowd! Shots are coming from this side! Boys! Seconds later... They’re shooting from that side! They’re dispersing the crowd! ..we hear seven gunshots... Another man down! ..and see Yogendra bleeding to death on the ground. This camera angle does not reveal who shot him. But we found another clip of the same moment, filmed from a few steps further along the pavement. At first glance, there is no more evidence here. But if we zoom in and stabilise the footage, we can clearly see gunshots. They're shooting! 15 seconds later, a third camera captures what appears to be the same group of officers moving towards the corner of the grounds. This is the clearest visual evidence we have found, indicating that unarmed protesters were shot dead by Nepali police from inside the grounds of parliament. Protesters took what cover they could find. Yogendra died of his injuries. He was 24. In the footage investigated by the BBC, neither Yogendra nor any of the other victims we have examined was engaged in any violence. According to official figures, 19 young Nepalis were killed in the protests on September 8th. A further 300 were injured. So how did the police come to fire on their own citizens? According to our police sources and the leaked transcript, the order came through police radio from call sign Kilo 1. Some of us were seriously injured. One of us asked to be rescued. Kilo 1 ordered us to shoot. Kilo 1 was Bishwo Adhikari, the officer in charge of Nepal Police operations in Kathmandu that day. But Kilo 1 was not at the top of the chain of command. The police log reveals the first order to use force came from a more senior officer, using the call sign Peter 1. "Curfew already in place. "No further need to obtain permission. "Deploy necessary force." Peter 1 was Chandra Kuber Khapung, Nepal's most senior officer - the inspector general of police. He has denied responsibility. Nepal Police told us the decision to use force came from a committee made up of Nepal's main security forces. They said... Other police officers have admitted to failures in intelligence, training and direction. They also blame the army for failing to support them. But most are haunted by what happened. On that day, rather than managing the crowd, our officers shot at protesters as if they were enemies. Later that day, Shreeyam's dad got a call no parent wants to get. “Banku is at the Trauma Centre. Can you come over?” There was a crowd next to the gate. I went to check. There was a name list. The first name was Shreeyam Chaulagain. As soon as I got home, my wife asked me: “You went to get our son. Where is Banku?” I said: “He’s been hurt. They’re treating him.” She asked: “Why did you leave him alone?” I was buying time. I was broken. But despite the slaughter, the Prime Minister dug his heels in. There has been a demand for the resignation of the Prime Minister. You can’t make demands from the street. The Prime Minister will not resign. Faced with such intransigence, some protesters began to suggest a different approach. All night , I waited for dawn to break. My whole being ached to stand against the state and the choices it had made. As dawn breaks, the fury ignites. I’ve not been able to sleep all night thinking of all the children who were killed. These leaders should be chased and killed. Is it acceptable to kill children? At first, Nepal's authorities had a plan. Regular police units would contain the crowds backed by the armed police force, with the army held in reserve. Security forces are deployed in and around the parliamentary complex. By 8:30 am, a curfew is imposed. Please shut your shops now, please shut down. KP thief! Leave the country! But the crowds do not back down. Again, Rakshya is among them. You cannot kill your own people! You can’t! You can’t! This is the view from her phone as protesters move towards parliament. We’re outside the parliament, gunshots have started. By nine, things are getting ugly. Crowds morph into mobs... ..targeting the police... ..the homes of political leaders... ..government buildings... ..and even private property belonging to those perceived to be close to power. The violence circulates online in real time. The police are outmanned and overstretched. Officers say the support promised by the armed police force and the Nepal army never arrived. At around one, the police appear to give up their attempt to control the mob. Order two: Secure weapons, radios, and vehicles. Preserve your force. Protect yourself. This takes priority. This video, posted online but quickly deleted, shows police being told to prioritise their own safety. Crowd control is secondary. Use tear gas only if containment is still possible. Maintain readiness. Ensure survival. Victor Control to all stations. Let’s all go... but where? To the police station? I think their target is Singha Durbar. With the police in retreat, chaos reigns. Nepal's parliament, left undefended, falls to the crowd. By two, it's under their control. Yesterday they killed students, Gen Zs! Now do you see what Gen Zs are capable of! Within minutes, the building is set ablaze. Crowds breach the Supreme Court, and Singha Durbar, the historic compound housing most government ministries. This fire looks sick! Army helicopters circle overhead, airlifting political leaders from burning homes to safety. By 14:30 that afternoon, the Prime Minister and most senior political figures are under the army's protection. Senior police officers also take refuge in the military compound. Rank and file officers left on the streets are now targets. Down with Nepal Police! Some are stripped of their uniforms and publicly humiliated. Boys, beat those ***** up. Enough! They've surrendered. One junior officer told us he felt abandoned by his commanders. As juniors, we expected our seniors and chiefs to support us while we were under attack. But we were abandoned. They failed to take necessary action. We felt orphaned. They saved themselves, but they did not even update us on what to do or what was happening. There are widespread allegations that thugs and infiltrators in the pay of political groups were behind the violence. We can't rule that out, but we found no concrete evidence. Violence spreads beyond Kathmandu across the country. Finally, in the early afternoon, Prime Minister Oli resigns. For a moment, it felt like the country finally belonged to us. We had brought an arrogant government to its knees. Part of us rejoiced, but another part ached with grief. We turned to the army, asking them to bring the chaos under control. ...to help restore peace. Chaos continues through the evening. I burnt this down. This is our Nepal. Nobody can do anything to us! By nightfall, hundreds of buildings are burning... ..banks and armouries looted, more than 13,000 prisoners have broken free, three police officers killed and at least 50 more Nepalis are dead. At nine, the army finally steps in. In order to get out of this dire situation we request protesters to halt all activities. Respected brothers and sisters, from 22:00 tonight, there will be a curfew. Everyone must go home. The army's intervention brought an end to two days of chaos and bloodshed. But many Nepalis felt they'd left it too late. The Nepal Army had plenty of personnel. They wouldn't have needed to shoot people. They could have deployed 100 – 150 troops on the main streets. We could have avoided this huge national loss. Instead, the Nepal Police bore the brunt of everything. I feel like the army arrived just to take credit. On the Discord channel, there were now more than 100,000 people. Just 48 hours earlier, they'd been planning a protest. Now, with the government deposed and the country in flames, they were debating Nepal's future. Sushila Karki, a former Supreme Court chief justice, was sworn in after protesters forced her predecessor from office. The peace imposed by the army held. On September 12th, Nepal got its new Prime Minister, the first woman to run the country. Her task - overseeing fresh elections and an inquiry, still ongoing, into the events of September 8th and 9th. At the heart of that inquiry is a simple question - who was responsible for the killings that set the country alight? Already, key people in the chain of command are blaming each other. Our sources say the authorisation to use force came from Nepal's top police officer - Chandra Kuber Khapung. Call sign - Peter 1. The police, in turn, say the decision came from the District Security Committee, headed by Chief District Officer - Chhabi Lal Rijal. Rijal has denied responsibility. So has the then home affairs minister - Ramesh Lekhak. Even the former Prime Minister KP Oli refuses to admit any fault. Apparently I should be accountable. Tell me, who, in which country has accepted such accountability? Is the president accountable when a man is asphyxiated to death in a racial crime? While police and politicians pass the buck, the families of those killed are mourning their loved ones. They're in no doubt who is to blame. Ultimately, those responsible must be held accountable. - Who do you see as the perpetrators? Thirty million Nepalis know who the perpetrators are. There is no reason to give names. The former government presided over these events. All those who led that government are accountable. My dreams are already shattered. For them, it was just a student who died. For us, the world we knew has fallen apart. I’ve not been able to cry. I want to talk to him, so I pretend he’s here and I keep talking to him. When will you be back? Hurry up, I tell him. In my mind, he’s still in his school uniform. He’ll come home, swinging his bag. I’ve not been able to accept that he’s no longer here. I had this dream where I was spreading my arms before God, begging. I kept holding him, asking him to come back. I wish he would return.

On September 8th 2025, 19 young protesters were shot dead by police on the streets of Kathmandu. But how did a peaceful Gen Z protest turn into a tragedy? And who gave the order to open fire? Click here to subscribe to our channel 👉🏽 https://bbc.in/3VyyriM The killings sparked outrage across Nepal, leading to widespread destruction and the fall of the government the following day. Using an exclusive secret record of police radio leaked to our journalists, and over 4000 videos and photographs shot on the streets that day, #BBCEye pieces together a forensic account of the most dramatic two days in Nepal’s recent history - exploring how a Gen Z social media trend grew rapidly into a mass movement that caught the country's political establishment and security forces by surprise.   The film follows the story of Rakshya Bam, one of the organisers of the Gen Z protest and Shreeyam Chaulagain, a 17-year-old who was protesting in his school uniform. His parents recount events of that day, and their struggle for justice. The BBC also obtains exclusive police testimony which reveals how the authorities lost control of the demonstration, and who gave the order to use lethal force. 00:00 How a Gen Z protest turned to tragedy 02:23 A frustrated generation 04:10 The “Nepo babies” trend 07:51 September 8, 2025 12:20 Curfew is declared 19:44 Shreeyam’s story 24:24 The order to shoot 28:13 September 9, 2025 30:16 Police retreat 31:21 Parliament is invaded 36:12 A new government 37:05 The blame game 38:58 Remembering Shreeyam 🎥 Watch this film in NEPALI here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zCn40LpNVQ 🎞️ Watch more investigative journalism from our award-winning BBC Eye investigations team at this documentary playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLz_B0PFGIn4fa8LK1lptsvoA_spfJhzda 📽️ You may also be interested in these documentaries: https://youtu.be/gYXaPTDatis https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qz0f1yyf_eA https://youtu.be/z4-koO916Gk ---------------- This is the official BBC World Service YouTube channel. If you like what we do, you can also find us here: Instagram 👉🏽 https://www.instagram.com/bbcworldservice Twitter 👉🏽 https://twitter.com/bbcworldservice Facebook 👉🏽 https://facebook.com/bbcworldservice BBC World Service website 👉🏽 https://www.bbc.co.uk/worldserviceradio Thanks for watching and subscribing! #Nepal #BBCWorldService #Documentary #OSINT #NepalProtest #NepalGenZProtest