Khula Manch was once a symbol of struggle against authoritarian rule. The days are long gone, it seems

Kathmandu Metropolitan City has ordered free food distribution be removed from Khula Manch. This, many say, is against democratic principles, values the space once stood for.

Seventy-seven-year old Birendra Bhakta Shrestha vividly remembers the day he led a mass gathering from Kaiser Mahal to Khula Manch in the spring of 1990 during the People’s Movement demanding multi-party democracy. When he reached Khula Manch he saw that thousands had gathered there from other directions too.