Nepal police use batons on protestors to clear crucial link-bridge

At around 3 am, about 100 policemen raided the bridge, used batons on the protesters and burnt their tents. About 12 protesters have sustained injuries.

The Madhesis - natives of the Terai region who share ethnic ties with India - have been on a protest against the Nepal Government's plans to divide the Himalayan nation into seven federal provinces under the Constitution adopted in September.

Nepal Police has claimed that the Madhesi protestors are not allowing the supplies to enter from the Indian side.  
Over 200 Indian trucks, stranded for about 45 days on the Nepal side of the border due to the protests, have finally left for India. But on the Indian side, thousands of trucks still remain stranded.

Tension has been simmering in the southern plains of the landlocked Nepal  since the new Constitution was formally adopted on September 20. Madhesi parties - who claim to represent the interests of the Indian-origin inhabitants of Nepal's Terai region - and Tharu ethnic groups have been agitating against the charter, which they say are discriminatory to their interests.

The protests have cast a shadow on the India-Nepal ties, as goods and fuel to the Himalayan nation via the major trading points of Birgunj and Biratnagar have been shrunk.

Faced with an acute shortage of fuel and essential goods,Nepal recently signed a deal with China to import petroleum products.