2025 Nepalese Gen Z protests in the context of "Government of Nepal"

Nepal, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mainly situated in the Himalayas, but also includes parts of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China to the north, and India to the south, east, and west, while it is narrowly separated from Bangladesh by the Siliguri Corridor, and from Bhutan by the Indian state of Sikkim. Nepal has a diverse geography, including fertile plains, subalpine forested hills, and eight of the world's ten highest mountains, including Mount Everest, the highest point above mean sea level on Earth. Kathmandu is the nation's capital and its largest city. Nepal is a multi-ethnic, multi-lingual, multi-religious, and multi-cultural state, with Nepali as the official language.

The name "Nepal" is first recorded in texts from the Vedic period of the Indian subcontinent, the era in ancient Nepal when Hinduism was founded, the predominant religion of the country. In the middle of the first millennium BC, Gautama Buddha, the founder of Buddhism, was born in Lumbini in southern Nepal. Parts of northern Nepal were intertwined with the culture of Tibet. The centrally located Kathmandu Valley is intertwined with the culture of Indo-Aryans, and was the seat of the prosperous Newar confederacy known as Nepal Mandala. The Himalayan branch of the ancient Silk Road was dominated by the valley's traders. The cosmopolitan region developed distinct traditional art and architecture. By the 18th century, the Gorkha Kingdom achieved the unification of Nepal. The Shah dynasty established the Kingdom of Nepal and later formed an alliance with the British Empire, under its Rana dynasty of premiers. The country was never colonised but served as a buffer state between Imperial China and British India. Parliamentary democracy was introduced in 1951 but was twice suspended by Nepalese monarchs, in 1960 and 2005. The Nepalese Civil War in the 1990s and early 2000s resulted in the establishment of a secular republic in 2008, ending the world's last Hindu monarchy. The Constitution of Nepal, adopted in 2015, affirms the country as a federal parliamentary republic divided into seven provinces. In September 2025, protests against a social media ban and economic inequality caused riots, resulting in casualties and resignation of the prime minister.

2025 (MMXXV) is the current year, and is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 2025th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 25th year of the 3rd millennium and the 21st century, and the 6th year of the 2020s decade.

So far, the year has seen an escalation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which began peace negotiations involving Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump. The Gaza war, including a famine and humanitarian crisis, as well as the Sudanese civil war, also continued throughout the year. Internal crises in Armenia, Bangladesh, Ecuador, France, Georgia, Germany, Haiti, Peru, Somalia, and South Korea continued into this year, with the latter leading to President Yoon Suk Yeol's arrest and removal from office. The year has also seen a wave of protests predominantly led by Generation Z, with some, like those in Nepal and Madagascar, resulting in the overthrow of governments. Several brief conflicts out of longstanding tensions emerged mid-year—India–Pakistan in May, Iran–Israel in June, and Cambodia–Thailand in July, in which a leaked phone call involving Thai prime minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra and Cambodian senate president Hun Sen resulted in the removal of the former.

The Gen Z protests have occurred in many different countries since the 2010s. The protests in Bangladesh in 2024 are widely cited as the first successful Gen Z revolution in the world, inspiring similar Gen Z-led protests in other Asian countries including Nepal, Indonesia, Philippines, Timor-Leste, and the Maldives, as well as in other parts of the world. The protests begun in Asia, in what has been described as the Asian Spring, but in 2025, the protests spread to Africa and other places. To date, the earliest known use of the term was in an opinion piece by French market research company Ipsos, which was named "OK boomer!" and published on 8 December 2019, referring to the Fridays for Future 2019 protests.

Although the causes of the protests are different in each country, they have generally been in response to inequality, declining standards of living, corruption, democratic backsliding and authoritarianism. Social media has been a common tool for activism and coordination. Some protests, like in Bangladesh and Nepal, have resulted in the overthrow of national governments.

Nepal, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mainly situated in the Himalayas, but also includes parts of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China to the north, and India to the south, east, and west, while it is narrowly separated from Bangladesh by the Siliguri Corridor, and from Bhutan by the Indian state of Sikkim. Nepal has a diverse geography, including fertile plains, subalpine forested hills, and eight of the world's ten highest mountains, including Mount Everest, the highest point above mean sea level on Earth. Kathmandu is the nation's capital and its largest city. Nepal is a multi-ethnic, multi-lingual, multi-religious, and multi-cultural state, with Nepali as the official language.

The name "Nepal" is first recorded in texts from the Vedic period of the Indian subcontinent, the era in ancient Nepal when Hinduism was founded, the predominant religion of the country. In the middle of the first millennium BC, Gautama Buddha, the founder of Buddhism, was born in Lumbini in southern Nepal. Parts of northern Nepal were intertwined with the culture of Tibet. The centrally located Kathmandu Valley is intertwined with the culture of Indo-Aryans, and was the seat of the prosperous Newar confederacy known as Nepal Mandala. The Himalayan branch of the ancient Silk Road was dominated by the valley's traders. The cosmopolitan region developed distinct traditional art and architecture. By the 18th century, the Gorkha Kingdom achieved the unification of Nepal. The Shah dynasty established the Kingdom of Nepal and later formed an alliance with the British Empire, under its Rana dynasty of premiers. The country was never colonised but served as a buffer state between Imperial China and British India. Parliamentary democracy was introduced in 1951 but was twice suspended by Nepalese monarchs, in 1960 and 2005. The Nepalese Civil War in the 1990s and early 2000s resulted in the establishment of a secular republic in 2008, ending the world's last Hindu monarchy. The Constitution of Nepal, adopted in 2015, affirms the country as a federal parliamentary republic divided into seven provinces. In September 2025, protests against a social media ban and economic inequality caused riots, resulting in casualties and the resignation of the prime minister.

Singha Durbar (Nepali: सिंहदरवार, lit. 'Lion's Palace') is a palace in Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal. The palace complex lies in the centre of Kathmandu, to the north of Babar Mahal and Thapathali Durbar and east of Bhadrakali Temple. This palace was built by Chandra Shumsher JBR in June 1908. It houses administrative offices of the Nepali Government, including the Pratinidhi Sabha, the Rastriya Sabha and several government ministries. In 2025, the main building was destroyed in the Gen Z protests, along with the prime minister's office. After Singha Durbar sustained damage during the Gen Z Protest Nepal movement, public discussions have emerged regarding its reconstruction and restoration.

Khadga Prasad Sharma Oli (born 22 February 1952), commonly known as K. P. Sharma Oli or simply K. P. Oli, is a Nepalese politician who thrice served as the 38th prime minister of Nepal from 2015 to 2016, 2018 to 2021, and 2024 to 2025. He has served as the chairman of the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist–Leninist) since 2014. Oli has been Member of Parliament for Jhapa 5 since 2017. He previously served as an MP for Jhapa 6, Jhapa 2, and Jhapa 7.

Oli opposed the 2015 blockade of Nepal by the Madhesis. He strengthened relations with China as an alternative to Nepal's traditionally close trade ties with India. Oli's tenure in office has been controversial for frequent use of tongue-in-cheek remarks, hostility towards critics and the media, and accusations of fostering cronyism and corruption. On 9 September 2025, he resigned as prime minister in the wake of the Gen Z protests.

Sushila Karki (born 7 June 1952) is a Nepalese politician and former jurist who became the interim prime minister of Nepal following the Gen Z-led protests of September 2025 that led to her predecessor’s resignation. She is the first woman in Nepal’s history to serve both as prime minister and as chief justice of the Supreme Court of Nepal. Karki previously served as chief justice from 2016 to 2017.

Nepal is a multi-ethnic, multiracial, multicultural, multi-religious, and multilingual country. The most spoken language is Nepali followed by several other ethnic languages.

The lands of modern-day Nepal are widely regarded to be the birthplace of Buddhism and the Buddha, which eventually spread into India and Sri Lanka, across East and Southeast Asia, and as far west as Kalmykia in Russia. The modern day Kingdom of Nepal was established in 1768 and started a campaign of unifying what would form the modern territories of Nepal. Some former territories had been lost due to the Anglo-Nepalese War and the Sino-Nepalese War. In the Sino-Nepalese war, the conflict ended with both victories and losses with the kingdom ultimately accepting tributary status with the Qing dynasty of China from 1792 to 1865. The Anglo-Nepalese War ended in British victory and resulted in the ceding some Nepalese territory in the Treaty of Sugauli. In a historical vote for the election of the constituent assembly, the Nepalese parliament voted to abolish the monarchy in June 2006. Nepal became a federal republic on 28 May 2008 and was formally renamed the 'Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal' ending the 200-year-old reign of the Shah monarchs. From 8-13 Sep 2025, a widespread riot was caused by economic corruption and the banning of social media.