Inside ‘mass hysteria event’ that led to Heathrow terminal evacuation

Terminal 4 at London Heathrow airport is now running normally after an emergency evacuation. Crowds of passengers gathered outside the terminal on Monday evening when police and firefighters were called to a “possible hazardous materials” incident. Dozens of flights were heavily delayed, with the last departure from Heathrow well after midnight.

Thousands of passengers from the UK’s busiest airport faced missed connections because their departures to hubs in the Gulf and beyond were up to four hours late.

But no hazardous materials were found. So what caused the chaos?

The incident began to unfold at the start of a busy evening at Heathrow Terminal 4, when passengers were checking in for dozens of flights to Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Africa. Just before 5pm, police were called to investigate “potential hazardous materials”.

There is a long and tragic history of terrorist attacks at airports around the world, and so the authorities are extremely sensitive to anything that might be construed as a malicious act.

Passengers who were “landside” in the check-in area were moved out to the roadways outside the terminal. Heathrow said: “Terminal 4 check-in has been closed and evacuated while emergency services respond to an incident.”

It appears that passengers who were “airside” – ie beyond the security search area – were allowed to remain there. A couple of flights, which passengers had already boarded, were allowed to depart close to schedule from Terminal 4 after the emergency started.

The railway station beneath Terminal 4 closed; the Tube station was already shut because of a strike on the London Underground. Heathrow put out a post on social media urging passengers not to travel to Terminal 4.

As specialist emergency teams in hazmat suits entered the terminal, the crowds outside grew, and staff handed out foil blankets to passengers as temperatures began to fall.

Witnesses said they were confused as “no one really knew what was going on”. At 8pm, Heathrow said it was standing down the incident and allowing passengers back into the terminal. But by then, flight schedules were in disarray.

Heathrow said in a statement: “We are very sorry for the disruption caused, the safety and security of our passengers and colleagues is our number one priority.”

The Met said that “around 20 people reported an injury” and that “enquiries are ongoing”. But in a statement after the incident, it said: “Specialist officers attended the scene alongside the London Fire Brigade and London Ambulance Service and conducted a thorough search of the area. No trace of any adverse substance was found.”

Reports cited a Met insider as attributing the panic to a “mass hysteria event”.

Kit Yates, co-director of the Centre for Mathematical Biology at the University of Bath, agrees that mass hysteria may have caused the incident. In a Substack post, he writes: “An airport, after all, is a setting in which heightened awareness and anxiety amongst the people filling the departure halls can provide the ideal conditions for mass psychogenic spread.”

Dozens of flights were delayed, typically by three to four hours, affecting many thousands of passengers.

The leading airline at Terminal 4 is Qatar Airways. All three of its departures to Doha were hours behind schedule, as were two Etihad flights to Abu Dhabi. Typically, most passengers on these departures are transferring directly at the Gulf hubs to destinations in Asia, Africa and Oceania. Thousands are likely to have missed those connections. Under air passengers’ rights rules, the carrier must provide onward transportation as soon as possible and accommodation plus meals as necessary.

Other long delays affected Malaysia Airlines to Kuala Lumpur and Korean Air to Seoul.

Chinese airlines were particularly badly affected, with departures to Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou hours late. The final flight of the night, China Southern to Guangzhou, took off at 12.30am – long after departures normally end.

Operations on Tuesday appear to be running normally.

Heathrow Terminal 4 was a 1980s stopgap that was constructed mainly for British Airways’ longhaul operation while waiting for the longest planning inquiry in history – for Terminal 5 – to conclude.

Despite a refurbishment, it remains largely unloved by passengers and airlines. Terminal 4 is in the wrong place: south of both runways, rather than between them. Aircraft using the northern runway have to taxi across the active southern runway.

Transport links to the rest of the airport and beyond are poor compared with the other terminals.

The major airlines that use it are mainly Middle Eastern and east Asian. By far the most important carrier is Qatar Airways, with eight flights a day to and from its hub in Doha. Etihad, Gulf Air, Oman Air, Saudia and Israel’s El Al are the other Middle Eastern representatives.

Kenya Airways flies to Nairobi, while RwandAir serves Kigali.

To Asia, China Southern and China Eastern have busy schedules to the People’s Republic. Vietnam Airlines flies to Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. Korean Airlines to Seoul and Malaysia Airlines to Kuala Lumpur are major network carriers.

Across the Atlantic, the only current player is Canada’s WestJet.

Two central Asian airlines, Air Astana (serving Kazakhstan) and Uzbekistan Airways operate from Terminal 4, as does Azerbaijan Airlines to Baku.

Shorthaul flights comprise:

Fire breaks out after ‘drone strike’ on Gaza-bound flotilla carrying Greta Thunberg

A Gaza-bound flotilla carrying humanitarian aid with Swedish activist Greta Thunberg on board claimed that one of their boats was struck by a suspected drone on Tunisian waters.

The Global Sumud Flotilla for Gaza (GSF), which comprises about 20 vessels carrying pro-Palestinian activists from 44 nations, is attempting to break Israel’s naval blockade on the embattled Gaza Strip.

The Portuguese-flagged boat, carrying the flotilla’s steering committee, sustained fire damage to its main deck and below-deck storage, the organisers said in a statement. The GSF “confirms that one of the main boats… was struck by what is suspected to be a drone”, the organisers said on social media. It said everyone on board was safe after the incident.

The flotilla arrived in Tunisia over the weekend and was anchored about 80km from the port of Sidi Bou Said when the incident allegedly took place.

“I was sleeping when I heard this explosion,” said journalist Yusuf Omar, who is among the dozens of activists heading towards Gaza in an attempt to break the Israeli blockade. “A big explosion happened right next to our diesel tank. The neighbouring boats spotted a drone coming in. They said it flew above basically where I was sleeping, and then it went to the front and detonated,” he said in a post on Instagram.

Another eyewitness told Seen TV: “I saw a drone dropping a bomb on us… There was a fire on the front deck that we fought. It is out now. Everybody’s safe.”

The Tunisian authorities said the explosion originated inside the vessel and that reports of a suspected drone attack on the flotilla “have no basis in truth”.

Tunisia’s national guard said their investigation was ongoing but “no drones have been detected”. “According to preliminary findings, a fire broke out in the life jackets on board a ship anchored 50 miles from the port of Sidi Bou Said, Houcem Eddine Jebabli, a spokesperson for the national guard was quoted by AFP news agency as saying.

The Tunisian authorities suggested that the fire might have been caused by a cigarette.

After the alleged strike, dozens of people gathered outside Tunisia’s Sidi Bou Said port, where the flotilla’s boats were docked, waving Palestinian flags and chanting “Free Palestine”.

Israel has imposed a naval blockade on the coastal enclave since Hamas took control of Gaza in 2007, saying it aims to stop weapons from reaching the militant group.

Israel sealed off Gaza by land in early March, letting in no supplies for three months, arguing that Hamas was diverting aid. In June, Israeli naval forces boarded and seized a British-flagged yacht carrying Ms Thunberg, among others. Israel dismissed the aid ship as a propaganda stunt in support of Hamas.

A UN-backed body confirmed in August that there was famine in the strip as a direct result of Israel’s “systematic obstruction” of aid entering Gaza.

The flotilla left Barcelona on 31 August, carrying food, water and medicine in what activists claimed was the largest civilian maritime mission to Israel of the war so far. But just hours into the journey, the flotilla had to return to port due to adverse weather conditions, only to resume its journey two days later.

“We all know why we are here,” said Ms Thunberg, after arriving at the Tunisian port where the activists were greeted by hundreds of people. “Just across the water, there’s a genocide going on, a mass starvation by Israel’s murder machine.”

The flotilla is scheduled to arrive in Gaza later this month, but Israeli forces are likely to intercept the boats before they can reach the Gaza Strip.

Israeli national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, is said to be drafting up plans for the arrest of Ms Thunberg and the seizure of the flotilla, Israeli newspaper Israel Hayom reported. There are plans to convert the ships into a police fleet.

The GSF also said an investigation into the drone attack was underway and its results would be released once available.

“Acts of aggression aimed at intimidating and derailing our mission will not deter us. Our peaceful mission to break the siege on Gaza and stand in solidarity with its people continues with determination and resolve,” the GSF said.

Israel’s almost two-year-long war in Gaza has killed more than 64,000 Palestinians, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run strip. Israel’s offensive began following a Hamas-led militant attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, where 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed and 250 were taken hostage.

Trump dismisses domestic violence as ‘a little fight with the wife’

Donald Trump has suggested that domestic violence should not be counted in official crime statistics, dismissing the seriousness of spousal abuse as “a little fight with the wife.”

The president made the comments, which sparked a swift backlash, while discussing his high-profile crime crackdown in Washington, D.C. Trump declared an emergency in the District of Columbia last month to allow for a federal takeover of policing in the nation’s capital city, sending in the National Guard and other federal agents to help local law enforcement to stamp out urban crime.

Speaking at Washington’s Museum of the Bible on Monday, Trump falsely claimed that his measures had succeeded in completely eradicating crime from the district.

“There’s no crime,” the president told his audience. “They said, ‘Crime’s down 87 percent.’ It’s more than 87 percent — virtually nothing.”

On Sunday alone, Washington recorded a homicide, six motor vehicle thefts, two assaults with a deadly weapon, four robberies and more than 30 incidents of theft, according to The New York Times, which cited police data.

At one point in his remarks, Trump expressed frustration that domestic violence incidents that happen behind closed doors are counted as part of city-wide crime totals.

“Things that take place in the home, they call crime,” he said. “They’ll do anything they can to find something. If a man has a little fight with the wife, they say this was a crime scene.”

A clip of the commander-in-chief’s remarks was widely shared on social and drew an angry response.

“Just a casual dismissal of domestic violence as a crime,” commented Republican strategist Sarah Longwell.

“One woman dies every 11 hours from domestic violence… so naturally, Trump is working overtime to say it’s not real,” another person said, while another simply posted a photoshopped image of Trump giving his speech while wearing a white vest, to caricature him as an abusive husband.

The president continues to insist that crime is out of control in many Democrat-run cities, and also sent the Guard into Los Angeles in June to help quell anti-ICE protests.

He followed his intervention in D.C. by sending ICE agents swarming into Boston on Saturday to round up more people accused of being undocumented migrants, in what is being called “Operation Patriot 2.0.”

Chicago is widely expected to be next, despite widespread local opposition, with plans to accommodate an influx of agents already underway and border czar Tom Homan suggesting on Sunday that their mission would commence this week.

Nottingham Forest sack manager Nuno Espirito Santo

Nuno Espirito Santo has been sacked by Nottingham Forest just three games into the new Premier League season after a dramatic breakdown in his relationship with club owner Evangelos Marinakis.

Nuno guided Forest back into Europe for the first time in 30 years last season, having taken the club from the brink of relegation to a seventh-placed finish in the Premier League.

But Nuno expressed “concern” ahead of the new campaign and frustration at the club’s transfer activity over the summer, and admitted that his relationship with owner Marinakis had collapsed in an explosive press conference on 22 August.

Nuno, who signed a new three-year contract in June, revealed his relationship with Marinakis had changed and they were “not as close”, especially since the arrival of new head of football Edu Gaspar, the former director of Arsenal.

He also said “when there’s smoke, there’s fire” regarding reports of his exit, which has now been confirmed by the club.

Nuno remained in charge for the 1-1 draw at Crystal Palace and the 3-0 home defeat to West Ham before the international break, with Nuno departing ahead of Forest’s trip to Arsenal on Saturday.

Forest said in a statement: “Nottingham Forest Football Club confirms that, following recent circumstances, Nuno Espirito Santo has today been relieved of his duties as head coach.

“The club thanks Nuno for his contribution during a very successful era at the City Ground, in particular his role in the 2024/25 season, which will forever be remembered fondly in the history of the club.

“As someone who played a pivotal role in our success last season, he will always hold a special place in our journey.”

The Portuguese manager was well liked in the Forest dressing room, with midfielder Elliot Anderson stating he was hopeful that Nuno would still be at Forest upon his return from international duty with England.

Nuno previously expressed that he had no regrets over speaking out against his bosses.

“I said it, and I don’t regret it,” Nuno said. “For me, it’s important that everyone at the club shares the same vision and same commitment. I have to speak to the owner.”

Nuno and Marinakis have previously shared the headlines, with the Greek billionaire marching onto the pitch following a close-season game with Leicester to animatedly remonstrate with his manager. It later transpired that this exchange was about how Taiwo Awoniyi’s serious abdominal injury was treated by those involved, with Forest at the time dismissing talk of a “confrontation” as fake news.

Marinakis is said to already be lining up a replacement, with Ange Postecoglou and Jose Mourinho both heavily linked with the role.

Postecoglou was sacked from his Tottenham post just 16 days after guiding the club to the Europa League last term – a triumph that didn’t absolve the Aussie of the dire domestic campaign Spurs had endured – while ex-Chelsea, Manchester United and Real Madrid manager Mourinho parted company with Fenerbahce at the end of August.

First photos show remote campsite of New Zealand fugitive Tom Phillips

Police in New Zealand have released the first photographs of one of the makeshift campsites where fugitive Tom Phillips and his children were hiding for years before he was shot dead in Waitomo on Monday.

The site, discovered in a remote and heavily forested area in rugged Waitomo, consisted of a small cluster of tarpaulins and tents set up beneath trees, with items including quad bikes, tyres, and cans of soft drink scattered around.

It is one of the many campsites in which Phillips is believed to have been living with his three children, now aged 9, 10 and 12.

Phillips disappeared with his children – Jayda, Maverick, and Ember – shortly before Christmas 2021, and was on the run across the Waikato region, in a case that gripped the nation because of his ability to evade arrest.

The camp was discovered by specialist officers about 2km from the scene where the confrontation happened, after one of the children provided information.

Two of Phillips’s children were located at the site. They were found with the help of his third child, who was with Phillips when he died.

Three firearms, including the weapon used by Phillips in the shooting, have been recovered, along with several others from the campsite.

Police commissioner Richard Chambers said Phillips’s actions had “quite literally put his children in harm’s way”.

“Phillips had no regard for the safety of those children. He seemed to be solely motivated in terms of what he wanted to do and how things were impacting him.”

Commissioner Chambers said the campsite was found inside “deep bush … not an easily found location for anyone”.

Commissioner Chambers said investigators are also pursuing possible accomplices who may have assisted Phillips, with inquiries expected to continue for months. The probe will look into how he obtained firearms and quad bikes, as well as seeking to identify anyone who helped Phillips evade the authorities.

“[There is] a lot of work to determine whether there is anyone else involved.”

Acting deputy commissioner Jill Rogers said the children were reunited late on Monday and are now in the care of Oranga Tamariki (New Zealand’s Ministry for Children).

“Our staff described the children as being engaged, and they readily spoke with our staff, who provided them with snacks and drinks while they waited to be brought out of the camp site.

“While they are now in the care of Oranga Tamariki, we will continue to work closely with the children, taking the time and sensitivity that is needed after the ordeal they have been through.”

Acting Deputy Commissioner Rogers confirmed that Phillips’s body was removed from the scene late on Monday and will undergo a post-mortem before being released to his family. She said investigators are piecing together the family’s movements and speaking with locals in the area.

Police were responding to a report of an attempted burglary at a rural farm shop in Piopio town, and entered into an armed confrontation with Phillips in the early hours of Monday. An officer was injured when Phillips’s high-powered rifle was fired.

The children’s mother, known only as Cat, said in a statement to state-owned Radio New Zealand that the children had been “dearly missed every day for nearly four years, and we are looking forward to welcoming them home with love and care”.

Commissioner Chambers said Phillips and the children moved around their hideouts frequently through “a challenging terrain”, which hampered the chances of capturing them.

Phillips failed to attend a court hearing in 2022 and has been pursued by police ever since. He evaded authorities by hiding out in Waikato’s thick bush and remote farmland.

The funniest, strangest, and best things from this year’s Fringe

The Edinburgh Fringe is a place where British eccentrics take centre stage and the country’s weirdest most wonderful talents get to explore the craziest outreaches of their creativity, whether it’s staging immersive theatre in a bathroom, or performing a show on a treadmill.

For all the silliness, though, there’s a seriousness to the whole thing: the Fringe is the breeding ground for Britain’s comedy trendsetters: The Mighty Boosh and The League of Gentlemen first found audiences here and the international phenomena that are Fleabag and Baby Reindeer got their first outings on the stages of the Fringe.

This year, as ever, the festival’s packed schedule sees Edinburgh veterans rubbing shoulders with dozens of emerging voices on the hunt for an audience, many of them willing to perform anywhere from the backroom of a pub to a book shop, or even a bathtub.

The summer of 2025 is looking like it’s going to be a particularly strong year for established heroes of the Fringe. Winner of the Edinburgh Comedy Award back in 2009, Tim Key returns to the Fringe with a new show Loganberry, likely to be informed, in part, by his recent experiences starring in the film The Ballad of Wallis Island and appearing as pigeon in Bong Joon Ho’s Mickey 17. Expect deadpan poems and much hilarity.

Following the success of her smash hit Channel 4 show The Change, about a menopausal woman rediscovering herself in the Forest of Dean, Fringe-favourite and 2013 winner Bridget Christie returns to Edinburgh with a work in progress at the Monkey Barrel. Also showing a work in progress is Ahir Shah, who has pedigree when it comes to licking a show into shape at the festival – when he did so in 2023, he won the main prize. Television presenter and podcaster Nish Kumar is back on his old stomping ground too with a new show Nish, Don’t Kill My Vibe at the Gordon Aikman Theatre.

For all the tried-and-tested performers who pretty might guarantee laughs, one of the real joys of the Fringe is to be found in taking a risk on an up-and-coming comedian in the hope you stumble across a star of the future.

In some cases that might mean checking out a Fringe first-timer like Toussaint Douglass, who makes his Edinburgh debut with his hotly-tipped show Accessible Pigeon Material, which promises to be joyfully absurd and very pigeon-heavy in terms of content. Or popping in to see if promising young talents can pull off that tricky second album: having scooped a Best Newcomer gong at last year’s Fringe, Joe Kent-Walters is reprising his gloriously demonic working men’s club owner, Frankie Monroe, at the Monkey Barrel Comedy venue (Cabaret Voltaire).

Also keen to build on a promising start will be Leila Navabi, a television writer from South Wales, whose 2023 musical comedy show Composition included a song about having her ears pierced in Claire’s Accessories. This year, she’s back with Relay, which blends jokes and songs to explore her attempts to make a baby with her girlfriend and a sperm donor.

Whether they’re promising young tyros or established names, for many comedians the creative freedom and outright silliness of the Fringe has them coming back time and time again. Take, for example, Ivo Graham whose show this year is called Orange Crush and is described by the man himself as “a show about hats, haters and hometown heroes, from a man who promised everyone he loved that he wouldn’t do Edinburgh in 2025, but then came back anyway, because he simply had to do this show.”

If you are planning to join Ivo in Edinburgh to soak up the comedy chaos in person, don’t forget provisions. The average Fringe day involves walking 15,000 steps, climbing 43 hills and sitting through at least one show in a sauna-like attic with no ventilation. So, pack accordingly: a bottle of water, a sturdy fan and a packet of Maynards Bassetts Wine Gums or Jelly Babies to keep your blood sugar and national pride intact. Nothing says “I’m here for the arts” quite like chuckling through a late-night experimental mime while chewing on a Jelly Baby’s head.

Now you’re in the know, don’t forget to set the juice loose with Maynards Bassetts – grab a bag today!

MasterChef confirms Wallace and Torode replacements

Grace Dent and Anna Haugh have been confirmed as the judges replacing Gregg Wallace and John Torode on the flagship version of MasterChef.

Both Wallace and Torode, who had presented MasterChef since 2005, were sacked earlier this year following an investigation into their conduct.

Journalist Dent, 51, has been a regular guest judge on MasterChef for the past decade. Meanwhile, 44-year-old Irish chef Haugh stood in for Wallace in the latter stages of the current season after the misconduct allegations against him emerged.

The BBC confirmed on Monday (8 September) that both Dent and Haugh will be the judges for the forthcoming series of the show.

Dent said that she was “over the moon to be coming back to the MasterChef kitchen” and looked forward to “unearthing what culinary skills people have been cooking up behind closed doors”.

She also praised Haugh, who she said will bring “incredible experience to the table”.

Haugh, who also judged on MasterChef: The Professionals in 2022, added: “I’m delighted to be back on MasterChef and judging alongside the wonderful Grace Dent, whose writing and wit I’ve admired for years.

“MasterChef has long inspired and resonated with cooks in home kitchens and of course, in my industry. I can’t wait to get into the studio for what will be a great competition.”

Kalpna Patel-Knight, head of entertainment commissioning, said: “Grace and Anna are already part of the MasterChef family and together have culinary credentials that are second to none.

“Both viewers watching the series and the amateur cooks taking part can be assured that in the search for the next MasterChef UK champion, Grace and Anna know exactly what is needed in order to rise to the top.”

In November 2024, it was announced that Wallace would step away from his role on the BBC cooking show and all its spin-offs while historical allegations of misconduct were investigated.

Wallace, 60, issued an apology, saying he was “deeply sorry for any distress caused” and that he “never set out to harm or humiliate” in the wake of the review, published in July by law firm Lewis Silkin, that saw 45 out of 83 allegations made against him upheld.

The review concluded that the “majority of the substantiated allegations against Mr Wallace related to inappropriate sexual language and humour”, adding that “a smaller number of allegations of other inappropriate language and being in a state of undress were also substantiated”, along with “one incident of unwelcome physical contact”.

Torode, 60, was the subject of an allegation about using racist language that was upheld as part of the review and the BBC and production company Banijay UK subsequently agreed they would “not renew his contract on MasterChef”.

After Wallace stepped back from his role in 2024, amid the external review and before his sacking, Dent was announced as a judge on Celebrity MasterChef.

Torode and Wallace’s final series of presenting the classic version of MasterChef is currently airing on BBC One. Haugh will be a judge in the final week of the show.

Two of the contestants on the current series have asked to be edited out following the review and its findings.

Earlier in the month, TV host and chef Matt Tebbutt was announced as Wallace’s replacement on the next series of MasterChef: The Professionals, along with long-term hosts Monica Galetti and Marcus Wareing.

Additional reporting by PA

Nepal prime minister resigns over deadly anti-corruption protests

Nepal’s prime minister KP Sharma Oli has resigned after at least 19 people were killed in clashes between the country’s security forces and anti-corruption protesters.

In a statement, Mr Oli said he was standing down in light of the crisis engulfing Kathmandu, where anti-corruption demonstrators defied an indefinite curfew and clashed with police on Monday during violent protests triggered by a social media ban.

Earlier on Tuesday, Mr Oli withdrew the social media ban and called an all-party meeting, saying “we have to resort to peaceful dialogue to find solutions to any problem”.

But anger against the government showed no signs of abating, as protesters stormed the parliament complex in the capital and set fire to senior politicians’ residences, with videos from Kathmandu showing huge plumes of dark smoke billowing out of some of its most recognisable landmarks.

One eye-witness told The Independent he saw protesters setting fire to the homes of politicians, and that ministers were being plucked to safety by military helicopters.

Mr Oli’s private home in Balkot, Bhaktapur, to the east of Kathmandu was also set ablaze as the anti-government protests spread beyond the city centre.

Authorities said demonstrators marched to Mr Oli’s compound at dawn and attempted to break through security barriers. Police tried to hold them back, but protesters refused to disperse and eventually set fire to the property, reported the Kathmandu Post. The residence contains two houses, both of which were engulfed in flames during the attack.

Protesters also set fire to tyres on some roads, threw stones at police personnel in riot gear and chased them through narrow streets.

Hundreds of people from towns located near the India-Nepal border had started marching towards Kathmandu to support the protesters, one demonstrator told Reuters.

Smoke from the protests had been seen drifting across the runway at Tribhuvan International Airport, the capital’s main airport which is located close to the city centre.

Flights in the morning were cancelled, and on Tuesday afternoon the civil aviation authority announced the complete closure of the airport with immediate effect.

The protests began with Gen-Z outrage at nepotism and corruption in the public sector, spawning a number of popular online movements that spread via social media. While the government claimed it banned platforms for missing a registration deadline, the move was widely seen as an effort to crack down on anti-nepotism memes.

What began as opposition to the ban quickly expanded into a broader revolt against political leaders accused of corruption and misrule. Tens of thousands took to the streets of the capital, chanting: “Stop the ban on social media” and “Stop corruption, not social media” while waving national flags.

“Unemployment here in Nepal is sky high and you can see all the youths leave the country in high numbers,” Sudeep Bista, a 62-year-old pilot from Nepal, told The Independent.

“This outburst was an accumulation of frustration and anger over a decade now due to mismanagement and massive corruption,” he said, observing that “merit meant nothing and all high positions [were] awarded to political cadres”, referring to party workers and their family members.

The ban involved roughly two-dozen widely used platforms, including Facebook, X and YouTube, which had refused to comply with a new rule requiring registration and direct government oversight.

Before Mr Oli’s resignation, the government said it wanted to pass a bill to make social media platforms “properly managed, responsible and accountable”, but rights groups had condemned it as an attempt to censor dissent and silence critics.

Even after the social media ban was lifted, demonstrators said they would continue to protest. “We are still standing here for our future … We want this country corruption-free so that everyone can easily access education, hospitals, medical (facilities) … and for a bright future,” protester Robin Sreshtha told Reuters TV.

The houses of several other prominent politicians were also torched, including the residences of president Ram Chandra Poudel; home minister Ramesh Lekhak; Bahadur Deuba, leader of the ruling Nepali Congress party; and Pushpa Kamal Dahal, leader of the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Centre).

A private school owned by Mr Deuba’s wife Arzu Deuba Rana, who is the current foreign minister, was also set on fire.

The rally protests turned violent when crowds surrounded the parliament building on Monday and police opened fire. Witnesses reported that young demonstrators were shot at close range.

At least seven of the dead and dozens of the wounded were taken to Kathmandu’s National Trauma Centre. “Many of them are in serious condition and appear to have been shot in the head and chest,” said Dr Badri Risa. Families crowded the hospital for news of missing relatives as volunteers queued to donate blood.