Anti -corruption protests started in Nepal have now turned into completely violence and chaos. This movement, which made a peaceful start against social media ban and corruption, became the center of control and coordination on a platform called Discord. A group called ‘Hami Nepal’ used their Discord server as a control room from where hundreds of youth shared aggressive messages.
‘I want a machine gun.’ ‘Throw bomb bombs at home of Home Minister and Prime Minister.’ ‘Take the life of the leader for every dead protesters.’ Such inflammatory messages were being shared in the Discord Group of ‘Hami Nepal’. These messages went viral so fast that they also widely spread on other social media platforms.
After the death of more than 20 youth in the shootout of the protesters on Monday, a wave of resentment ran on the discord server named ‘Youths Against Corruption’. No one was stopped in the unmarried chat group, so everyone was posting their mind. Threats of violence against leaders, their children, armed forces and government officials were constantly coming to the fore.
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Although ‘Hami Nepal’ announced to continue protests and stop school-college on Tuesday, the situation became rapidly violent. Thousands of users on Instagram also threatened to kill the daughter of Home District Officer Chhabi Rizal in America and shared her address. Messages like ‘Kill the children of leaders’ did not decrease.
Here, the protesters on the ground had set fire to Parliament House, Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli’s private residence and many ministers’ houses. Some discord users described the next target Rameshwar Yadav (Minister) and Kailash Sirohiya (Chairman of Kantipur Group). A few hours later, the Kantipur TV office was set on fire. Due to a rumor, Kathmandu Airport was also suggested for the attack so that PM Oli could not leave the country.
As the violence increased, many users started appealing for peace. ‘This revolution has become a madness but… stop!’ For example, messages also started going viral in discord. But after three hours, it was announced to end the protest, while by then many government properties had been damaged. Many protesters began to believe that this movement has reached the hands of some selfish elements.
It is clear from this whole incident that to what extent the movement without leadership can deteriorate. Actually, Discord was designed for gamers. For the first time, such a large scale was used for coordination of political movement. In this, ‘Youths Against Corruption’ created separate channels. Such as updates, emergency helpline, fact-check, general discussion etc. But the uncontrolled atmosphere turned the movement into anarchy.
Discord is a unique platform, which combines voice, video and text chat together and facilitates forming community. Originally designed for gamers, this platform allows users to create and manage customizable servers, where members can interact in systematic text and voice channels. Discord is ease in its use, real-time communication features such as screen sharing and streaming and moderation tools.
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