Kathmandu, Dec. 16 (Reuters): Nepali police fired tear gas to break up protests by rock-throwing students during a general strike in Kathmandu today to protest the killing of 11 civilians by a soldier near the capital, witnesses said.

Shops and schools were shut and public transport off the roads in the city, which mainly heeded the strike call by political parties as anger remained high following the incident around midnight on Wednesday when the soldier fired on a crowd of villagers who had gathered at a temple to mark the full moon.

The soldier, who had an argument with the villagers, also died in the shootout in the tourist town of Nagarkot, near Kathmandu, but the circumstances of his death were not clear.

Witnesses said students, trying to enforce the strike by blocking roads, threw rocks at hundreds of riot policemen who retaliated by firing tear gas. There were no reports of serious injuries.

“It is quite tense,” Kathmandu resident Saroj Khanal said, referring to the heart of the city, the scene of the protests. “King Gyanendra must take the moral responsibility for the killing,” said Ram Chandra Poudel, general secretary of the Nepali Congress party.