After signing a peace deal last week that promises them a place in an interim government, Nepal's Maoist rebels thought they had cause to celebrate. They planned a 'million man rally' in the capital, Kathmandu, at which their leader, known as Prachanda, would make his first major public address.
It would be a triumphant entry into mainstream politics for a political party that started out as a small band raiding police stations a decade ago, and grew to dominate most of Nepal's remote and impoverished countryside.
The event went ahead last Friday, but on a greatly reduced scale. The city's open-air theatre was awash with red. Revolutionary songs and hectoring speeches rang out over the public address system. On a hot dusty day, food vendors did a brisk trade while the normally congested traffic was brought to a standstill.
'The day is not far off when the people will grab the king from the palace and throw him in the street,' a warm-up speaker told the crowd to enthusiastic applause. 'The palace will be a museum and the king will be kept in a pigsty.'
But the crowd numbered in the mere tens of thousands, much too small for a convincing show of strength in a country where political rallies are commonplace. And the people heard speeches only from B-list party leaders after Prachanda cancelled his appearance and downgraded the event to a simple 'local celebration'.
The problem for the Maoists on this occasion is the same problem that hangs over the entire peace process. The rebels' foot soldiers had gone door to door around the city, demanding that households each fed and sheltered 10 Maoists who were travelling to attend the event. On one occasion, when residents protested, the rebels threw stones at them and chased them down the street.
The leadership apparently calculated that if they went ahead with the full-scale event they were in danger of alienating a large part of the city's population, and with elections due next year that could be costly.
