At least 2,000 people held a brief sit-down protest in central Kathmandu Wednesday, urging Nepal's government and Maoist rebels to speed up a fledgling peace process, police and organizers said.
"This is a message to the people that the peaceful people's movement will not end until elections to the constituent assembly are held in the country," said Devendra Raj Pandey, a leader from the Citizens' Movement for Democracy and Peace, the protest organizers.
Police, who estimated the crowd at 2,000, made no effort to remove the protesters from the road and diverted traffic away from the area.
Nepal's recently reinstated government and Maoist rebels agreed in June to hold elections to a body that will rewrite the constitution.
They have observed a ceasefire for almost three months, suspending a decade-old insurgency that has claimed more than 12,500 lives.
But talks to push the process forward have been delayed by the ill health of Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala.
He came to power after nearly three weeks of often violent protests in April that forced King Gyanendra to end 14-months of direct rule.
Both sides have asked the United Nations for assistance and a delegation from the UN arrives in Nepal Thursday for an assessment of how it can assist the parties.
