Kathmandu, Chaukhath maathi hindu samuh ko akraman. On 05 August 2014, Chaukath organized a picnic discussion on ‘Women’s access to and security in public spaces’ at Shanti Batika in Ratnapark. Chaukath is an informal and unfunded network of women which analyzes politics, society, and media through a feminist lens. Our peaceful discussion was ongoing when supporters of a group calling itself the ‘Vedic Sanathan Hindu Rastriya Nepal Sanstagat Sangarsha Samiti’ began repeatedly disrupting the picnic with taunts and threats. The group which has been staging a relay hunger strike for some months threatened us to leave Shanti Batika immediately. Despite their threats, we continue to respectfully negotiate with them and carried on the program. To protect against rain, we had set up a white 4 X 4 tent in Shanti Batika. We had also discussed the event with the police. We had no banners, slogans, or demands. Nor were we at Shanti Batika to stage a sit-in. Aware of our intentions and having observed our peaceful behavior, the gathered police themselves advised us to continue our discussion and tried to control the other group. But the struggle committee was determined to create communal strife. Threatening us with death, they falsely accused us of having gathered to preach the Christian faith. They called us characterless women and told us to take our picnic home. Ultimately, they uprooted and broke our tent. They jumped into the middle of the circle shoving our members and throwing away our snacks. The death threats continued throughout. The guru of the struggle committee threatened us wielding a full-size trident (trisul). The situation was very tense despite the best efforts of the police team lead by DSP Rajkumar Silwal. In order to prevent the situation from spiraling out of control, we peacefully left Shanti Batika. The struggle committee loudly celebrated our exit and continuing to shout threats as we left. The Hindu religion does not condone such inhuman behavior, fear-mongering, and violence. This fringe group is misusing Hinduism and insulting Hindus everywhere. Their end goal is clearly to spark communal violence in Nepal. This incident clearly demonstrates that public spaces are inaccessible and unsafe for many communities. Women as well as Nepalis of different classes, regions, genders, castes, ethnicities, and religions are made to feel unwelcome. We would like to highlight two points regarding this incident: 1. It is clear that many Nepalis as individuals and as groups are actively kept out of public spaces. At Shanti Batika, our small group of 15, mostly women, was surrounded by a group of about 50 men at all times. These men stared at us and taunted us continually. Some men in the crowd even said we must be foreigners as Nepali women lacked the ability and courage to claim public spaces so unapologetically. 2. Extremist groups like the struggle committee want to take away the rights of individuals and communities to gather in public spaces. Such extremists groups defy the spirit of People’s Movement II, oppose the vision of a ‘new Nepal’, and want to prevent the country from becoming a Federal Democratic Republic. We strongly condemn this incident. No community has a monopoly over public spaces. We also urge security forces, civil society, rights activists, political parties, and the government to pay attention to this sensitive issue. Most importantly, we urge all Nepalis to stand in solidarity with each other to ensure such incidents are never again repeated. (For additional information on the incident contact chaukathnetwork@gmail.com <mailto:chaukathnetwork@gmail.com> or DSP Rajkumar Silwal at 9851283384.)