When Nepal Caught Fire: How Corruption and Social Media Bans Sparked a Youth Uprising

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Video originally published on September 11, 2025.

In September 2025, Nepal descended into chaos as hundreds of thousands of young protesters took to the streets of Kathmandu, transforming the capital into what witnesses described as a warzone. What began as localized demonstrations against government corruption and a controversial social media ban rapidly escalated into violent clashes that left at least 19 dead on the first day alone, government buildings ablaze, and Prime Minister Khadga Sharma Oli forced to resign. The shockwaves from these protests have fundamentally shaken Nepal's political establishment, with demonstrators demanding nothing less than sweeping constitutional reforms and an end to the endemic corruption that has plagued the nation for decades.

Key Takeaways

The Nepal protests of September 2025 were triggered by a government social media ban but were fundamentally driven by decades of endemic corruption, with Nepal ranking 107th out of 180 countries on Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index.

Nepalese youth used hashtags #NepoKids and #NepoBabies on social media to expose the lavish lifestyles of politicians' children, contrasting them with ordinary citizens who depend on remittances (26% of Nepal's GDP) sent from workers abroad.

The government gave social media companies only one week to comply with new registration regulations, and the resulting shutdowns felt like collective punishment to Generation Z users, sparking mass protests.

Violence escalated rapidly over two days: at least 19 people were killed and over 300 injured on the first day; on the second day, protesters burned down parliament, the Supreme Court, police stations, and politicians' homes, and over 13,000 inmates escaped in a mass jailbreak.

Prime Minister Khadga Sharma Oli resigned and fled to the Shivapuri Barracks, while cabinet members including Finance Minister Bishnu Prasad Paudel were physically attacked by mobs.

The army was deployed by President Ram Chandra Poudel to restore order, raising fears of a military coup, though the army spokesperson denied any takeover.

Lighting The Match: The Roots of Nepal's Crisis

To understand how Nepal reached this breaking point requires examining the deep-seated corruption that has characterized the country's governance for decades. According to Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index, Nepal ranks 107th out of 180 countries—a position that places it alongside Brazil and Serbia, nations with extensive documentation of systemic graft. This ranking, while ahead of Russia, reveals a troubling reality for ordinary Nepalese citizens who have watched their political elite enrich themselves while the majority struggle economically.

The catalyst for the protests emerged from social media, where Nepalese youth began using the hashtags #NepoKids and #NepoBabies to criticize the children and families of influential politicians. The term "Nepo Baby," borrowed from Hollywood discourse about celebrity children whose careers benefit from famous parentage rather than talent, was repurposed by young Nepalese to highlight the stark disparities between their lives and those of the political elite's offspring. The Times of London reported on one particularly inflammatory example: Saugat Thapa, son of politician Bindu Thapa, posted a photograph of himself posing before a "Christmas tree" constructed from over 30 luxury gift boxes from brands including Cartier, Louis Vuitton, and Gucci. The image went viral with a caption that read: "While ordinary Nepalis send remittances from abroad to survive, Nepo babies build Christmas trees with stolen taxpayer money."

This caption revealed another critical dimension of Nepal's economic vulnerability: the country's extraordinary dependence on remittances from workers abroad. The scarcity of domestic employment opportunities has driven millions of young Nepalese to seek work in foreign countries. In Hong Kong, they power the electronics recycling industry, while in the United States, they constitute the fastest-growing community of Asian Americans. According to the New York Times, in 2024 these workers sent back $11 billion to Nepal—a staggering sum that accounts for 26% of the nation's entire economy. This dependence on remittances underscores the failure of successive Nepalese governments to create sufficient domestic economic opportunities for their young population.

The government's response to this mounting criticism proved catastrophic. Rather than addressing the underlying corruption or implementing economic reforms to reduce reliance on remittances, authorities chose to ban social media platforms. This decision, intended to silence criticism, instead became the spark that ignited widespread protests. Analysis from digital advisory firm Kepios found that at the start of 2025, there were 14.3 million active social media user identities in Nepal—equivalent to approximately half the country's population. For these users, social media represented far more than entertainment or casual communication.

Dr. Nayana Prakash, a research fellow at Chatham House, explained the significance: "There's been a sort of trivializing of what social media can mean to young people, both in this protest and across the world. Social media isn't just a way that we chat to our friends. It's a way that we feel connected to any kind of network in society both locally and globally." In Nepal specifically, social media had become an essential tool for the younger, tech-savvy generation to find employment and operate businesses. For some, social media presence itself constituted their livelihood, and there were legitimate fears that a ban would prevent Facebook from launching content monetization in the country—a development that many young entrepreneurs had been anticipating as a potential income source.

To provide necessary context, the social media ban was not technically a blanket prohibition. The government established a framework whereby companies could continue operating if they registered with authorities and appointed a local liaison officer to handle complaints. Several platforms complied with these requirements: TikTok, Viber, Nimbuzz, and Popo Live all took the necessary steps to remain accessible. From the government's perspective, these measures were not intended as authoritarian suppression but rather as attempts to limit misinformation and ensure both platforms and users bore responsibility for posted content.

However, the government gave social media companies merely one week to comply with the new regulations. When shutdowns began affecting platforms that had not registered, the action felt to Generation Z users like collective punishment. The perception that they were being penalized as a group for criticizing corruption bred collective anger—anger that would soon explode onto the streets of Kathmandu.

The Protests: From Peaceful Demonstration to Violent Uprising

While external observers might be tempted to view the Nepal protests as simply an angry reaction to the social media ban, such an interpretation would fundamentally misunderstand the movement's deeper motivations. Dr. Caroline Mose, a scholar and governance expert speaking exclusively to the source, articulated this distinction clearly: while the social media ban served as the trigger, the gun had been "paid for and loaded by state corruption." The youth themselves emphasized this broader context. Yujan Rajbhandari, a 24-year-old student, told AFP: "We were triggered by the social media ban, but that is not the only reason we are gathered here. We are protesting against corruption that has been institutionalised in Nepal."

On Monday, September 8th, protesters initially gathered in Kathmandu around the Maitighar Mandala, a monument built to showcase Nepalese culture, located approximately one kilometer from parliament. The demonstration's first hours were peaceful, with protesters—some of them schoolchildren still wearing their uniforms—marching, chanting, and singing. Media outlet The Statesman reported that some demonstrators carried a flag from the anime One Piece, in scenes reminiscent of recent Indonesian protests. This detail, seemingly trivial, actually speaks to the global connectivity and shared cultural references of young protesters across different nations.

The peaceful atmosphere shattered when demonstrations moved closer to parliament and some protesters climbed over the wall in an attempt to breach the building. What followed was a descent into violence that shocked the nation. An ambulance was set ablaze, and riot police found themselves pelted with stones. The police response escalated rapidly, deploying water cannons, tear gas, and ultimately live ammunition against the crowd. The government imposed a curfew on New Baneshwor, the largest residential neighborhood in Kathmandu, but this measure did little to deter protesters who were now enraged by the violent crackdown. By the end of Monday, at least 19 people lay dead, with more than 300 injured.

The carnage prompted immediate political fallout. Political parties including the Nepali Congress, which was part of Prime Minister Oli's ruling coalition, and the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Center), the country's main opposition party, issued statements calling for accountability. That a member of the ruling coalition would issue such a statement signaled to regional observers that Prime Minister Oli's resignation was a question of when, not if. His coalition had been held together by broken promises and fragile bargains, and the protests tore through these tenuous bonds.

Following an emergency cabinet meeting during which Home Minister Ramesh Lekhak resigned, Prime Minister Oli issued a statement blaming the violence on "rogue elements" that had infiltrated the protests. He clarified that the government was not opposed to the demands of the youth and announced the end of the social media ban. But this concession came too late. Young Nepalese were lying dead in the streets. An already furious generation now had concrete reasons to intensify their hatred of the government.

On Tuesday, demonstrators returned to the streets in even greater numbers. Unlike Monday's initially peaceful gathering, Tuesday's protests were violent from the outset. Protesters set fire to tires, threw stones at riot police, and chased them through Kathmandu's narrow streets. Catastrophic scenes unfolded as protesters burned down government buildings including parliament and the Supreme Court, police stations, and the homes of politicians. Demonstrators then descended on Tribhuvan International Airport, where some politicians had been evacuated, to prevent them from fleeing the country.

Some individuals took advantage of the chaos to attack jails across the country, triggering a mass jailbreak. Nepalese police estimate that more than 13,000 inmates escaped. Among them was Rabi Lamichhane, a controversial figure who had briefly served as Deputy Prime Minister. As the violence escalated, Prime Minister Oli resigned and fled to the Shivapuri Barracks. His cabinet members were not so fortunate.

In a video that subsequently went viral, the nation's Finance Minister, Bishnu Prasad Paudel, can be seen running through Kathmandu's streets with scores of people pursuing him. A young man kicks the minister down, sending him crashing into a wall. The minister quickly recovers and continues running before the video cuts off. Subsequent videos revealed that he was caught, stripped naked, and beaten by angry protesters. The violence extended beyond current government officials. In Dallu, a suburb of Kathmandu, a mob burned down the house of former Prime Minister Jhala Nath Khanal, killing his wife who was trapped inside.

These acts of violence distinguished the Nepalese protests from similar movements in Indonesia. While Indonesian protesters had trashed politicians' homes, no one was lynched, and no family members were burned alive. The extreme nature of the violence in Nepal prompted an equally severe response. Realizing the police could not maintain order, President Ram Chandra Poudel, who holds a mostly ceremonial role within the country's parliamentary system, deployed the army. Within hours, an uneasy calm had returned to Kathmandu, aside from a few isolated looting incidents. By Wednesday morning, even these pockets of disorder had been suppressed, leaving the capital tense but quiet—and leaving much of the country questioning what would come next.

What's Next For Nepal? The Search for Leadership

Whenever soldiers march into streets during political crises, a familiar anxiety grips nations: is this the prelude to a coup? Nepal was no exception. As armored vehicles rolled through Kathmandu, rumors of a military takeover spread rapidly. Brigadier General Raja Ram Basnet, the Nepalese army's spokesperson, was quick to dismiss these rumors. Speaking to Republic TV, he asserted that the army was not seizing power but rather acting within constitutional bounds to normalize the situation and restore calm.

Despite these assurances, skepticism lingered. Public policy analyst Bishnu Raj Upreti told Al-Jazeera that although the president was nominally in charge, his lack of credibility among Generation Z protesters meant that the army had become the nation's de facto power. This raised the critical question: if the military isn't taking over, who will lead Nepal?

Inside Nepal, much of the debate around this question has been happening on Discord, the social messaging platform—ironically one of the applications the government had attempted to ban. The source's team gained access to one of the Discord servers where these conversations were occurring and observed real-time consensus-building efforts. From these discussions, one name rose to the top: former Chief Justice Sushila Karki.

Karki, one of Nepal's preeminent jurists, has developed a reputation as an honest defender of the rule of law. She endeared herself to protesters by marching alongside them and publicly condemning the killing of demonstrators. However, she faces one major constitutional hurdle. According to Yog Raj Lamichhane, an assistant professor at Nepal's Pokhara University, under the current constitutional framework, the next Prime Minister—even an interim one—must come from the current members of parliament.

This same obstacle confronts another popular option: Balendra Shah, the Mayor of Kathmandu and perhaps the most influential political figure in Nepal at present. Known popularly as Balen, he has publicly endorsed Karki and called for the President to dissolve parliament. The dissolution of parliament and holding new elections rank among the core demands of the protesters, who view the entire institution as, in the words of one person interviewed by the source, "unsalvageable."

Other protester demands include the introduction of term limits for the Prime Minister, who under the current constitution can serve an indefinite number of five-year terms, and a reduced parliamentary term from five years to four. Some protesters have also suggested introducing a mechanism for the direct election of the prime minister, which would end the current system where voters elect members of parliament who then select a prime minister from within their ranks.

If these demands are met, they could pave the way for Sushila Karki to become the nation's first female prime minister. However, they might also create an opening for a controversial figure to make a comeback. Rabi Lamichhane, the former deputy prime minister who escaped jail during the protests, initially rose to power as a populist, anti-corruption figure but later became mired in several corruption scandals. Despite this, he has retained a significant support base that has promoted him as a possible pick for interim Prime Minister. Supporters point to his long government career and past anti-corruption stances as evidence that he possesses the necessary leadership qualities.

Yet for all his support, Lamichhane's chances of becoming prime minister are close to zero. Beyond the controversies that make him unpalatable to the youth movement, his very escape from prison has raised constitutional, ethical, and legal questions. Elevating him would risk undermining the legitimacy of any transitional government and the protests as a whole.

In the background of these debates, some Nepalese are discussing a more dramatic possibility: the return of the King. Former monarch Gyanendra Shah, who was deposed in 2008 when Nepal became a republic, has retained a loyal following. In early March, more than ten thousand supporters gathered near the main entrance to Kathmandu's Tribhuvan International Airport to welcome the king after a trip to western Nepal. Now, with the government reeling from the shock of the protests, monarchists are attempting to push the narrative that the king is the only figure capable of stabilizing the country.

Regardless of who becomes Nepal's next leader, one reality is clear: they will have to shoulder not just the hopes of the protesters but also the weight of a broken system. And if they fail, the protesters have proven more than capable of holding them accountable.

Zooming Out: Nepal in the Context of Global Youth Movements

Stepping away from Nepal's specific circumstances reveals that these protests are not a unique phenomenon. What unfolded in Kathmandu echoes similar movements in the Philippines, Kenya, and Indonesia. In Manila, young Filipinos marched against corruption; in Nairobi, Kenya's Generation Z marched against a punitive finance bill, forcing the government to withdraw it; and in Jakarta, students flooded the streets to oppose exorbitant perks for Members of Parliament amid a cost-of-living crisis.

These movements, which people have taken to calling PINK protests, share common DNA: young, educated, digitally savvy citizens disillusioned by what they perceive as systems that exist solely to serve elite interests. This is not a problem limited to these specific countries. Across much of the Global South, nations are having to reckon with a surging population of young people who have internet access and have learned from countries like Nepal that governments are not invincible.

The implications of this realization are profound. If nothing changes—if elites continue looting while populations continue to suffer—then the next wave of PINK protests is all but guaranteed. Another wave of unrest threatens to be even more spectacular than what was witnessed in the summer of 2025. The Nepal protests serve as both a warning and a template for youth movements across the developing world, demonstrating both the power of coordinated digital activism and the potential for such movements to rapidly escalate into violent confrontations when governments respond with repression rather than reform.

The question facing not just Nepal but numerous countries across the Global South is whether political establishments will recognize these movements as legitimate expressions of popular frustration requiring systemic responses, or whether they will continue to treat them as security threats to be suppressed. The answer to this question will likely determine the political stability of numerous nations in the coming years.

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FAQ

What triggered the Nepal protests of September 2025?

The immediate trigger was the government's decision to ban social media platforms, but the underlying cause was decades of systemic corruption. As Dr. Caroline Mose explained, while the social media ban was the trigger, the gun had been 'paid for and loaded by state corruption.' Protesters emphasized they were demonstrating against institutionalized corruption, not just the social media ban.

Was the social media ban a complete blanket ban?

No. The government established a framework where companies could continue operating if they registered with authorities and appointed a local liaison officer to handle complaints. TikTok, Viber, Nimbuzz, and Popo Live all complied and remained accessible. However, the government gave companies only one week to comply, and shutdowns of non-compliant platforms felt like collective punishment to young users.

Why is social media so important to young Nepalese?

With 14.3 million active social media user identities (about half the population), social media serves as far more than entertainment. It is a critical tool for finding employment, running businesses, and maintaining local and global connections. For some, social media presence itself constituted their livelihood, and there were fears the ban would prevent Facebook from launching content monetization in Nepal.

How many people died during the protests?

At least 19 people were killed on the first day of protests (Monday, September 8th), with more than 300 injured. Violence escalated further on the second day, though the draft and source script do not provide a specific cumulative death toll beyond the first day's figures.

Why did Prime Minister Oli resign?

The escalating violence, the deaths of protesters, and the collapse of his ruling coalition forced his resignation. Political parties within his own coalition, including the Nepali Congress, issued statements calling for accountability. His coalition had been held together by fragile bargains, and the protests tore through these bonds. He fled to the Shivapuri Barracks after resigning.

Who is Sushila Karki and why is she a leading candidate for leadership?

Sushila Karki is a former Chief Justice of Nepal and one of the country's preeminent jurists. She developed a reputation as an honest defender of the rule of law and endeared herself to protesters by marching alongside them and condemning the killing of demonstrators. However, she faces a constitutional hurdle: under the current framework, the next Prime Minister must come from current members of parliament.

Who is Balendra Shah (Balen) and what role does he play?

Balendra Shah, popularly known as Balen, is the Mayor of Kathmandu and perhaps the most influential political figure in Nepal at the time of the protests. He publicly endorsed Sushila Karki for leadership and called for the President to dissolve parliament. Like Karki, he faces the constitutional hurdle of not being a current member of parliament.

What happened with the mass jailbreak during the protests?

Some individuals took advantage of the chaos to attack jails across the country, leading to the escape of more than 13,000 inmates according to Nepalese police estimates. Among those who escaped was Rabi Lamichhane, a controversial former Deputy Prime Minister who had been imprisoned on corruption charges.

Sources

About the Author

Wilfred M. Waimiri

Wilfred M. Waimiri creates and presents analysis focused on military doctrine, strategic competition, and conflict dynamics.

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