Just before this BBC podcast gets underway, here's something you may not know.

My name's Linda Davies and I Commission Podcasts for BBC Sounds.

As you'd expect, at the BBC we make podcasts of the very highest quality featuring the most knowledgeable experts and genuinely engaging voices.

What you may not know is that the BBC makes podcasts about all kinds of things like pop stars,

poltergeist, cricket, and conspiracy theories and that's just a few examples.

If you'd like to discover something a little bit unexpected, find your next podcast over at BBC Sounds. Hi and thanks for downloading witness history with me Lucy Burns from the BBC World Service

Today we're going back to the spring of 1990 in Nepal when a people's movement called Jana

Andalan brought an end to the country's absolute monarchy.

Dozens of people have been killed in Nepal as police opened fire on pro-democracy demonstrators.

Tens of thousands marched through the capital peacefully.

The trouble began when splinter groups marched on the royal palace.

What does Jana andal mean actually?

Jana means people and all means movement.

This is Devendra Raj Pandey.

He's an activist and writer who's been working in development and human rights in Nepal

for decades and is a veteran of several attempts to change the country's political system.

King Bireendra of Nepal is one of the world's last absolute monarchs, but he faces a growing challenge to his traditional

power.

Earlier this year, a democracy movement was launched with protest marches and a general strike.

The authorities reaction was harsh. More than 20 people died

in clashes between protesters and police. Nepal had been ruled by the same

royal family for hundreds of years. Many believed the king to be an incarnation of the God Vishnu.

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