Nepal's former rebels have protested against the president and government by blocking highways leading to the capital and cutting off road access to the city.
On Tuesday, supporters of the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), the former rebels, gathered on the highways connecting Kathmandu with the rest of the Himalayan nation.
At the Thankot checkpoint, the main entrance to Kathmandu, hundreds of Maoist supporters held banners and their party's red flag, stopping vehicles and chanting slogans.
Binod Singh, traffic police chief in Katmandu, said the highways were shut down by the protests but that there were no reports of violence.
The airport was open and flights were operating in and out of Kathmandu. The Maoists had initially planned to shut down the nation's only international airport but withdrew their plan following pressure from Western diplomats.
The Maoists have been protesting for months against President Ram Baran Yadav, whom they accuse of acting unconstitutionally after he rejected a decision by the prime minister to fire the army chief.
The president's rejection prompted Pushpa Kamal Dahal, the Maoist leader, to resign as prime minister in May and pull his party out of the coalition government. Since then, the communists have sought a reversal of the ruling and a public apology from Yadav, a member of the rival Nepali Congress party.
The Maoists accused the army chief of opposing the integration of thousands of former rebel fighters into the national army - a key component of the peace deal under which the Maoists laid down their arms three years ago. The communist fighters are still confined to UN-monitored camps.
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