Living through Nepal’s revolution
A spark of hope,
A spark of rage.
Flames.
Nepal has made international headlines over the past few days and weeks. Protests rocked its major cities, the government toppled as infrastructure went up in flames. Living through Nepal’s 2025 revolution as a foreigner was at times terrifying, but very eye-opening. It taught me about humanity, power, and the kindness that exists even amongst widespread destruction.
Here I will unpack what actually happened from my perspective. Much of the international media reporting has been at best shallow and unnuanced, at worst wholly inaccurate.
Then I will explore some of the lessons I’ve taken away from the whole experience, including what this revolution means for tourists thinking of traveling to Nepal in the future.
What happened & why
The only way I can describe the situation is an “unintentional revolution”. I’ve seen some media claiming it was highly effective and organised, which is not true. There were a series of dominos that fell, leading to the collapse of Goverment and, briefly, normality.
The domino playing board: Nepal’s broader context
While it is a beautiful country known for its snowy mountains, what tends to strike travellers is the kindness and hospitality of its people. Nepali culture is to be welcoming and generous - even though many do not have their needs for healthcare & education met.
Corruption in the political system has meant funds never reach intended projects, or arrive severely diminished. As a result, healthcare, education and infrastructure are lacking - especially for Nepal’s poorest and rural communities. The need to fund these things privately has driven many Nepalis abroad to find work, disrupting social connections in a society where family is central.
Nepal’s relatively new democracy has arguably not worked that well, with three leaders of three political parties rotating through power and without much changing.
Domino 1: #NepoKids
On Nepali social media, a trend calling out “Nepo kids” went viral. This highlighted the children of politicians and those in power, who posted photos of themselves showered in luxury that most Nepalis couldn’t even dream of. An example is a Christmas tree made from a pile of branded shoeboxes and bags.
The Nepo kids trend put stark visuals to the usually hidden issue of corruption. It demanded an answer to the question: why do they have so much, while we have so little?
Domino 2: Social media ban
The Nepal Government announced that social media would be banned in 3 days time, if the platforms didn’t register with the Government beforehand. The list was long and covered all of the platforms Nepalis use for daily communication with family.
As expected, most platforms didn’t register. Then over a few hours, the ban was rolled out - first we couldn’t load on wifi, and then even on cellphone data.
Of course, a ‘ban’ on anything online is quite hard to do. The young tech-savy, English speaking population install VPNs for themselves and their family members. Those in rural areas, or with family abroad working were cut off from their means of communication with family or with tourist visitors.
The ban was officially to ensure the platforms were taxed and regulated. Others speculated it was to limit free speech, or even to shut down the #Nepobabies criticism. A similar ban on tiktok had been implemented briefly a few years earlier and that had followed criticism of Ministers due to a scandal.
One thing that was telling - despite the ban, the Prime Minister continued to post on his social media.
Domino 3: slowly loading frustration
The days leading up to the first protest were strange. The energy in the city was off. Perhaps the collective conscious was becoming frustrated because the internet was painfully slow, even for Nepal. The strain of everyone using a VPN almost broke the internet. We couldn’t do basic things like order a taxi on an app - using wifi or data.
We had a series of bizarre events and run-ins, one of which was so disturbing we called the police. We felt tense and on edge, like the hour when a thunder storm is brewing but the rain hasn’t yet started.
Domino 4: peaceful protest turns deadly
In response to the ban and the general issue of corruption, ”Gen Z” took to the streets in their thousands. They wore school uniforms, carried memes and One Piece flags.
In the afternoon, reports of the first death came - again via banned social media platforms. After the first, came more and more. The young people, some students in school uniforms were being shot with live ammunition. Killed with wounds to the head. There are many very graphic videos that circulated on social media, which I will never forget but I won’t describe here. You don’t open fire on kids, you don’t shoot unarmed schoolchildren in the head. There is simply no justification.
The death toll climbed. The awful videos on social media circled. Finally, the thunder storm had broken. Nepal’s collective heart was stuck by a lightening rod of pain.
Darkness fell and people left the streets. But that night, the nation didn't sleep. It rested under a blanket of heavy grief, tossing in anger. People had no words to express their rage, their sense of injustice.
Domino 5: Government misses its chance
The Government had one evening to come together with a response to the tragedy, bloodshed. To show up and acknowledge the rage of the nation, and try to find a way to make it right.
The only thing that happened was the resignation of the Home Minister. Late night it was also announced that the social media ban was reversed. Fair to say, it was insufficient. The response was out of touch with the scale of injustice and depth of feeling of its citizens.
What came next was inevitable.
Revolution
We got some supplies early morning (nothing major happens in Nepal until 10/11am) and then settled in to stay inside. What I know about this day is purely from watching on (still banned) social media. Everyone was filming and posting online.
Sure enough, from mid morning, people flocked to the streets. There was a lot of Gen Z but there was also every generation. They were hungry for revenge, tired of the Government’s empty words and inaction.
The police had lost their moral authority the day before and became veritable targets for people's rage. They were overpowered and totally lost control. Unfortunately, several were killed. Even the poor traffic police (who I think have the WORST job in the country, standing as human traffic lights in dust, fumes, rain, and heat all day long) were targeted by angry citizens.
I think first to go were Ministers houses. Many were set alight. Scores of bank notes were flung from their roofs, hammers, stones and feet were taken to their contents. Some Ministers and their families were attached. The army flew in with helicopters to rescue Ministers and flew them to saftey, as their old lives burned with the anger of a nation.
Then various public buildings copped the mob’s rage. The Parliament building, that Police had used lethal force to defend the day before? Wrecked. Its stone and metal fences destroyed by hand. The building burned and graffiti-ed.
The Ministry of Roads, Ministry for Health, Kathmandu district court, Police stations, police fleets. Ambulances were also targeted, and I heard this was due to protesters - rightly or wrongly - thinking politicians had hidden inside some of them to get transported to safety.
Several other buildings - shops, hotels, private schools were set alight. At this point, seeing the Hilton burning with the mob apparently thinking they were investments of Ministers. I had felt started to feel unsafe at this point, until I found out that it
Last to go was the glorious Singa Durba, which had only just been painstakingly restored with historic architecture and building techniques, after the earthquake.
Anarchy
Leading politicians, including the Prime Minister resigned in the early afternoon. The police force was absent. There was no messaging or presence from anyone in the Government, the President, the police, the army, or anyone in authority.
Elated by their new-found power, many of the protesters had parties in the streets. They danced, played games of UNO, drove at speed on their motorbikes, slid around on wheely office chairs from burned offices while pretending to call each other on uprooted office desk phones.
Kathmandu and other cities briefly descended into anarchy. People looted guns from the Police, and were walking and driving around with them. We heard gunshots, which I think was from people firing into the air. I didn’t hear of anyone using these weapons on each other.
Prison breaks occurred with thousands of inmates escaping.
The anger turned outward from just political, with the rich and large companies being targeted next. The only major supermarket and department chain was targeted, stones thrown, aisles collapsed and goods taken. It was strange to see what people chose - many people took large teddy bears, others just one bottle of alcohol.
CG business cars and warehouses were burned, car shops went up in flames. News and cellphone network providers building were burned. Then ATMs and banks were looted and burned.
In coming days, there were allegations of political interference and opportunism. Noting that only certain political parties’ offices and structures were burned - while others remained untouched.
Army rules
By the early evening, public opinion (at least on social media) had shifted. The destruction had gone too far.
The army announced - on its newly formed social media channels - that they were going to be on the streets from 10pm. “Go home”, they said.
Power vacuum
Over the next few days, there was a hint of relief and hope, on a backdrop of uncertainty and fear. The army held control of the streets and curfews were in place. The chief of the army asked “Gen Z” to come to the negotiation table with the President.
But unlike what you might expect from an organised revolution, “Gen Z” wasn’t a cohesive group with a leader. It’s not a political party or entity. It was a generation. Leadership was ambiguous and fractured. The “Gen Z” in the protest also wasn’t representative of the whole country - just a subset of youth living in major cities, mostly male, and generally more educated and wealthier than Gen Z youth in rural Nepal. This was a concern to some commentators.
Nepalis who had lived through the Maoist uprising were nervous about the level of army’s influence, remembering the terror of being caught in cross fire or family members disappearing overnight. The army’s communications were the best out of any part of government - actually almost the only communication.
The ambiguity and unease was deepened by concerns that the constitution would be breached, possibly leading to further civil unrest.
Yet over just a few days, an interim Prime Minister leader was nominated by “Gen Z” via a discord poll. Sushila Karki, Nepal’s first women prime minister and former chief justice was sworn in late on Friday night - 5 days after the first protest. She is to remain in office until elections are held in 6 months’ time.
I was nervous protests may continue, as there had been some violent clashes between people who supported different interim Prime Ministers.
However, the new Prime Minister started by visiting injured youth in hospital, inspecting damage, and responding to calls to give martyrdom status to those who had lost their lives in the protest as well as financial support for their families. She then appointed a number of Ministers, mostly those who had been high up in the civil service, and (like her) had a track record of calling out corruption. It seems as though public support, or at least a degree of public patience, is behind PM Karki. Hopefully this remains and the upcoming election goes smoothly.
What’s next for Nepal?
I don’t know what is next. Rebuilding Nepal to be the country protesters hope for is a long path. I have found hope and inspiration in the following excerpts:
“We cannot believe that one leader can erase decades of betrayal. Nor can we believe that anger alone will carry us forward. If we want a different Nepal, we must practice discipline, embrace nuance, and resist the alienation that power and capitalism thrive on. We must educate, agitate, and organize—not just for a season, but for a lifetime.
Revolutions are never pretty, but they do not have to be hollow. If we hold complexity, resist alienation, and build hope as a discipline rather than sentiment, then maybe this time the fire will not just burn us. Maybe this time, it will light the way.”
-Simoni Agarwal, Lipstick Politico
“Democracy is a responsibility to act to build a good country. A good country is built on its communities. Communities are built on inclusion, kindness and connection…
Taking [the interim Prime Minister’s swearing-in oath] as a win could be dangerous. It could blind us to the work that must be done. It is not glamorous or easy work. It is the work of showing up, being kind, helping, building, debating, including, voting… When we can do that day in, day out - that is when we will have won.”
-Ashim GC, Instagram
My personal experience
Living through this felt very déjà vu. It was similar to the COVID-19 pandemic, where everything you thought was solid and certain was suddenly proved to be an illusion.
What is left, when all the structures and certainty is stripped away? There are only things that are more conceptual and “fluffy”- integrity, kindness, friends, connection. These things are “infinite values” that society often place less importance than “finite values” - like money and possessions.
It was for sure a stressful time, primarily because Nepal has become one of my homes an I care deeply about the place and people. But I spoke to tourists who found the curfews inconvenient, but otherwise were largely unaffected by the chaos (some even enjoyed it).
The two things that shook me the most were when a sense of humanity seemed to be abandoned. Firstly, the killing of young people with bullets. Buildings can be rebuilt, but lives once gone are lost forever. Then, on the second day, some Ministers and their families were attacked, beaten, degraded, and publicly humiliated. I think similar may have happened to some police officers but I’m not certain. The cruelty of it really upset me.
Kindness always shines through
Despite the anarchy, destruction and some cruelty - kindness shone through the chaos. Some of the more heartening aspects of the day:
Neighbours looked out for each other.
Just down the road, the local community apparently stopped the police station being set alight because it was right next to an old people's home.
Communities stood watch over historical, cultural and religious sites to stop them being destroyed.
Friends checked in on each others’ wellbeing.
People stood outside department stores at ATMs, demanding looters to return stolen goods.
Protestors chatted with and looked after a foreigner exploring the streets.
A dog was passed out of a house before it was set alight, and a paralyzed woman was carried outside to safety
In the days after the protest:
Youth took on the role of traffic police in their absence
Communities welcomed back the police force with flowers and food
People cleaned the streets and burned offices
Volunteers help to paint and rebuild
Is Nepal safe? Can i travel there now?
A lot of people have been asking this question. From my point of view, as a foreigner, I didn’t feel personally unsafe in Nepal. There are some countries where tourists or expats are specifically targeted, but this is not the case in Nepal.
It would be possible to have been hurt if you were in the wrong place - like out on the streets protesting. Definitely DO NOT attend a protest outside of your own country. Or in the few hotels that were burned. To the best of my knowledge, no-one in those hotels was harmed by the fires.
Hospitality amidst the protest
The Nepali concept of “guest is god” means foreigners are often showered with warm hospitality. Notably cases stand out:
A protest crowd parted to allow a tourist coach to pass through
A British tourist went around Kathmandu exploring the protest, and received a lot of support and kindness from the protesters
The local government put on extra security throughout the tourist centre of Kathmandu
Nepal’s Tourism Board ran shuttle busses to and from the airport for tourists as normal transport was disrupted
Those with travel documents were allowed to go to/from the airport despite curfews
The situation now
In terms of the situation now, it is calm. Oddly normal. It always was calm in key tourist areas like Everest and Annapurna; only the cities had large protests.
If you are up for traveling to Nepal, the hospitality you’re likely to receive will be next level. Nepal has lost so much economically and really needs income from tourism.
Guides and porters are without work. Companies are struggling. Reports are of losses of 40% in some parts of the tourism sector. The protests came right at the start of the new tourism season, following the off-season of monsoon. So the sector is facing potentially 9 months or more without income, if this season does not go well.
Common sense safety tips for travel
When travelling, it’s always best to be prepared. After all, a major protest can occur in any country with limited warning (recent protests in France are a case in point).
Some common sense tips include:
Ensure you have a comprehensive travel insurance
Register your overseas plans on your government’s travel/living abroad register
Keep some cash handy, in case online payments and ATMs do not work
Have some snacks and drinking water supplies
Follow local social media pages for news updates
If the news in another language, you can use google translate (even if it is text on an image format)
Stay away from any protests
Talk to locals to understand for information and to understand any risks (e.g. hotel staff, shopkeepers)
