Weary from three weeks working with the poor in the chaotic slums of Calcutta, India, 16 students from Palm Beach Atlantic College (PBAC) in Florida flew into Nepal June 3, hoping for a week of peaceful respite and prayer near the top of the world.
They would up with faces full of tear gas and a taste of the violence that has rocked Nepal’s capital since last week’s royal blood bath.
“People were burning tires in the streets and throwing bricks, things like that. ”PBAC graduate student Jared Landreth said during a telephone interview from Nepal.
Police in riot gear charged a crowded street, firing tear gas and sending people fleeing, Landreth said. But the students were not hurt.
“Things are still tense here, but we’re safe,” PBAC junior Aaron Harden wrote in an email to his parents in Delray Beach. “Our hotel is safe. It has a big wall and an armed guard. I have been worried a few times, but I was never in any real danger”
The 16 students in Nepal are on a month-long trip to help the destitute and dying in South Asia. They are witnessing firsthand a bizarre, deadly soap opera playing out in the streets and royal court of Katmandu.
As a result of the violence, the king, queen and seven other members of the royal family were killed or fatally wounded in their palace dining room, reportedly sprayed with bullets by a love-struck crown prince who later turned the automatic weapon on Himself. (BP)
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