New Delhi, India — The rattle of iron gates sounded like drumbeats as the crowd surged forward. A sea of bodies stormed through the barricades, which had stood as sentinels of power barely hours ago.

The hallways of the house of the country’s leader echoed with the thunder of muddy footsteps. Some smashed windows and artefacts, others picked up luxury bedsheets or shoes.

The building and its plush interiors had been symbols of crushing authority, impenetrable and out of reach for the country’s teeming millions. Now, however, they briefly belonged to the people.

This was Nepal last week. It was also Sri Lanka in 2022, and Bangladesh in 2024.

As Nepal, a country of 30 million people sandwiched between India and China, now plots its future in ways alien to traditional electoral democraci

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