On September 4, 2025, the Nepali Government decided to ban 26 major social media platforms, including Reddit, Instagram, Snapchat, and even YouTube. While the government made it public that they did this to slow the spread of misinformation, many of the citizens believed this was a way to prevent people from seeing the trending videos at the time of exposing corruption and fighting against it. This ban immediately caused a series of protests known as the “Gen Z protests” throughout the country. All this did was further add to the pile of things the Nepali Government had done wrong in the past, like the economic situation that young graduates would need to face, and pre-existing corruption within the government. Unfortunately for the government, this was the straw that broke the camel’s back.
Thousands of students throughout the country united together to plan an attack using Discord, a popular chatting site originally used by gaming communities, to coordinate. Many symbols were adopted and created to show defiance, which also represented modern times. One of the most notable ones was the Straw Hat flag, from the hit Japanese manga and anime series, One Piece. This was flown and raised to represent their desire for freedom and separation from the government. Now, after days of planning, Gen Z made their mark on the country on September 8th. What started as peaceful protests quickly escalated to lethal force, and the Nepali Army got involved, with dozens of students and even a child dying in the process. However, this only added fuel to the flame and led to an act that was unaccounted for in its entirety. The capital was stormed on September 9. Multiple government buildings were set ablaze, including the Parliament and the Supreme Court. The Prime Minister’s home was also set on fire, along with the former Prime Minister’s. Despite all the violence and risk that the students had to go through by participating in this event, they still continued, knowing their lives may be on the line. In the end, all their hard work paid off.
On the same day, the near collapse of the government and authority within the country led to the forced resignation of Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli, and the social media ban was immediately lifted. In order to prevent any further conflicts, the army set a nationwide curfew to be able to control the damage, and on September 12, a temporary Prime Minister, Sushila Karki, was elected on a Discord server poll. This movement showed the world how a generation is not afraid to stand up for their rights and is not afraid of change, setting the stage for future protests regarding the need for a new government system in Nepal and in many other countries globally.
