Nepal's Gen Z protest: BBC reveals
police order to fire

BBC Eye, February 2026
Role: producer/director, visual forensics, 3D modelling
Produced with S. Shrestha, R. Hossain (…)
Story Editors: J. Rabkin, D. Adamson

On September 8th 2025, 19 young protesters were shot dead by police on the streets of Kathmandu. But how did a peaceful Gen Z protest turn into a tragedy? And who gave the order to open fire?

The killings sparked outrage across Nepal, leading to widespread destruction and the fall of the government the following day.

Using an exclusive secret record of police radio leaked to our journalists, and over 4000 videos and photographs shot on the streets that day, #BBCEye pieces together a forensic account of the most dramatic two days in Nepal’s recent history – exploring how a Gen Z social media trend grew rapidly into a mass movement that caught the country’s political establishment and security forces by surprise.

The film follows the story of Rakshya Bam, one of the organisers of the Gen Z protest and Shreeyam Chaulagain, a 17-year-old who was protesting in his school uniform. His parents recount events of that day, and their struggle for justice. The BBC also obtains exclusive police testimony which reveals how the authorities lost control of the demonstration, and who gave the order to use lethal force.