Nepal authorities said more than 10,000 people participated in a protest against the government's attempt to dissolve the country's parliament.
Protesters defied the country's COVID-19 restrictions and gathered at the capital Kathmandu Tuesday.
Thousands called on Prime Minister Khadga Prasad Sharma Oli to reverse his decision to dissolve parliament and force an early election. Protesters called the decision "unconstitutional."
"We are protesting the unconstitutional move by the prime minister and we will continue to protest until parliament is reinstated," one protester said.
"The prime minister has no authority to dissolve the parliament under the constitution. Therefore, he should reverse his decision immediately," another protester said without elaborating.
Police said they were overwhelmed by the number of people at the march in Kathmandu. The protest is one of the biggest ever.
President Bidhya Devi Bhandari announced the dissolving of the country's parliament at the behest of Oli's cabinet Dec. 20. The president also called an early general election April 30 - more than a year earlier than scheduled.
Oli became prime minister after his party - the Nepal Communist Party - won elections three years ago. However, tensions between his party and the party of former Maoist rebels escalated - leading to an agreement to split the five-year term.
Recently, Oli expressed his refusal to allow Maoist rebel leader Pushpa Kamal Dahal to take over. Oli's government was also repeatedly accused of corruption and faced criticism over how it had handled the coronavirus.
Political experts and others suggested the ruling party should attempt to establish a bilateral agreement with the opposition instead of calling for an election. Such a decision could be detrimental to the country's tourism-dependent economy that has been battered by the health crisis, protesters on social media said.
Nepal's Supreme Court has reportedly received dozens of petitions to scrap Oli's political move. The court is scheduled to hold hearings for those petitions.
