CIVICUS discusses Gen Z-led protests in Nepal with Nishchhal Kharal, founder of Freedom Studio, a Kathmandu-based civic media organisation that provides creative and strategic support to social movements.

Gen Z-led protests erupted in September 2025, triggered by a government ban on social media platforms but reflecting years of accumulated economic and political frustration. When police opened fire on people on the first day of protests, the crisis escalated rapidly, ultimately leading to the prime minister’s resignation, the dissolution of parliament and an early election that brought a new party to power.

What triggered the protests, and how did you get involved?

I’ve been an activist all my life. I started protesting against the general strikes that political parties were using to express their grievances through violent means in 2010, when I was around 18 years old. Along with a bunch of other young people, I took to the streets. I did that for a while, but I realised that work without a network is really difficult to sustain. So in 2012 I established We for Change, a youth-led organisation for people aged between 16 and 24. When I turned 25, I handed over the leadership.

In 2020, I formed Freedom Studio, aimed at supporting social movements, particularly those that did not have the skills for strategic thinking, because things were happening on a one-time basis: there would be a hype, a protest would happen and then things would slow down and go back to normal.

In 2024, I was in the USA when the ‘nepokids’ trend started. We learned tactics from Filipino and Indonesian friends and shared them in Nepal. The idea was to call out the children of corrupt elite leaders who were exhibiting their lifestyles on social media. We pulled out their pictures and contrasted them with people who live in poverty. This clicked with a lot of people, particularly young people.

The protest was a reaction to high-level corruption, to a few people using taxpayer money for their personal benefit. The immediate trigger was a social media ban, which the government claimed was due to regulations requiring social media companies to register in Nepal. But really, the only objective was to control those companies and take down content they considered harmful. It was a big mistake. It was around 3 or 4 September and we immediately started to come together to protest.

Of course it wasn’t only young people protesting, but we call them Gen Z protests because young people were the protests’ leaders. Older generations couldn’t have done what Gen Z protesters did. Gen Z earned that name.

Were protests mostly about economics or politics?

The two things were intertwined. The underlying factors were corruption, inflation and lack of opportunities. Take public service delivery, for example: to get a driving licence or a passport you have to wait for years, and there is so much bribery involved. This was commonplace for a long time and we felt we could do nothing about it.

There’s also unemployment. A lot of Nepali people emigrate to the Gulf countries, along with Australia, Canada, Europe, Japan and the USA, to find work. I had to leave myself, and I was literally in tears, because Nepal is my home and I wanted to live there, but there were no opportunities. These problems piled up.

But it was also about dignity. Politicians lied to our faces over and over. On 9 September, when protesters went inside the home of a former prime minister, they found a room full of money. Protesters made a video of it, but later politicians started saying it was AI. They literally treated us like we’re dumb. This is not going to happen again. Young people have risen up and they know the real face of corrupt leaders. So we demanded accountability and a power shift.

How widespread is distrust of institutions?

It’s so widespread that protesters burned down the buildings of parliament, the prime minister’s office and the Supreme Court. They also burned down media houses and even attacked traditional civil society organisations. Before 8 September, there was still some trust in the police, but that ended when police haphazardly killed kids in school uniforms who participated in the protest. People couldn’t believe that police would just shoot them. Using batons and tear gas was one thing, but shooting people in the head — that was crazy. That’s why people got so angry on the second day, 9 September.

After the protests, Freedom Studio has collaborated closely with the police to try to rebuild trust between them and young people. We even strategically supported them by guiding them on how to engage with young people through social media. Together with the police we also created a mural with the message of social cohesion outside police headquarters.

Young people don’t object to institutions in themselves. In fact, the main demand of the protests was for strong and transparent institutions. The one institution they continued to trust was the Election Commission, a constitutional body with powers separate from government. So they trusted the electoral process.

How were protests organised, and what role did social media play?

It happened somewhat spontaneously. I don’t know who exactly decided to take to the streets on 8 September. Maybe a few activists decided on the date and it started circulating. But it felt like everybody’s protest. We all owned it. If it had been up to me, I would have waited until Saturday so more people could turn out, but the date had already started spreading, and celebrities were all over Facebook Live and Instagram Live talking about 8 September. It was decentralised messaging. The then mayor of Kathmandu, Balen Shah, who is now prime minister, also posted on social media warning political parties not to come and push their own agendas. But even before that, the call had circulated spontaneously.

The protests only lasted two days, 8 and 9 September. At the beginning, on the first morning, very few people came to the meeting point, Maitighar Mandala. But later that day, when people made it to parliament, the numbers were massive.

Social media is the biggest liberator of our generation. Without it, there wouldn’t have been Gen Z protests. This kind of engagement wouldn’t have been possible. Its main uses are convening and coordination. People create content and social media helps change the narrative and draw people in. And social media allows you to mobilise from anywhere. I was in the USA, but I was still organising. However, there are also challenges: even if you think you are anonymous online, authorities will eventually find out who is behind a protest. And they found me.

What risks have you personally faced?

I got a lot of hate speech. A very powerful nationalist leader asked his followers to find me, chase me down and kill me. A civil society coalition released a statement denouncing this kind of targeting, but I don’t think even a hundred people read it. This guy is so popular that millions of people watch his videos, and they believe the disinformation and fake news he spreads through his channel.

The threats affected my family and team. My parents were shocked. I deactivated all my social media accounts. We took down the banners outside our premises, shut down the office and left Kathmandu in fear people would find the place and burn it down. A few staff members left the organisation because they couldn’t take it. A board member who was running for parliament resigned because he felt that associating with us would backfire on him. We experienced no physical attacks, but were always on alert.

What did the protests achieve?

Our immediate achievement was to change the government. There’s also the fact that the Gen Z protests were recognised as a people’s movement, something that matters because it means those who were killed will be recognised as martyrs and their families will receive recognition and support.

In the long run, our biggest achievement is a mindset transformation. People used to believe nothing would ever change, and now they believe change is possible. This psychological shift is our biggest achievement.

We didn’t get everything we wanted. The people involved in the killings and shootings have not been arrested. A committee did an investigation, but it hasn’t published its report. But I have hope that under the new government, more of our demands will be met.

It’s common for new governments to tighten laws and focus on order and stability. Even if a new face gets elected, power corrupts, and people you now trust might be corrupt in the future. That’s why civil society and the media have such an important watchdog role to play. They need to make sure that power is exercised within a set of rules and what was promised is delivered.

I hope the new government will make drastic changes in the bureaucracy, strengthening the connection between people and the authorities. And I hope extremist leaders who spread disinformation will be held accountable.

CIVICUS interviews a wide range of civil society activists, experts and leaders to gather diverse perspectives on civil society action and current issues for publication on its CIVICUS Lens platform. The views expressed in interviews are the interviewees’ and do not necessarily reflect those of CIVICUS. Publication does not imply endorsement of interviewees or the organisations they represent.