Nepal scales back Hindu chariot festival amid virus surge

A drastically scaled-back version of a Hindu chariot festival took place in Nepal’s capital amid strict COVID-19 restrictions

KATHMANDU, Nepal -- A drastically truncated version of a Hindu chariot festival took place Saturday in Nepal's capital amid strict COVID-19 restrictions, following an agreement by organizers and authorities that prevented a repeat of violent confrontations between police and protesters last year. Typically, a five-story-high wooden chariot of the deity Rato Machindranath — whose statue is made from clay and covered in red paint with wide-open eyes — is pulled by devotees around a suburb of the capital, Kathmandu. The annual festival lasts about a month and draws tens of thousands of people. But this year, only around a hundred hand-picked devotees were allowed to pull the chariot for just a few meters (yards), as riot police sealed off the neighborhood to prevent any spectators from entering. The Himalayan nation is experiencing a coronavirus surge, with record numbers of new infections and deaths. Authorities imposed a lockdown across most of the country last month, and extended it in recent days by another two weeks.