Nine lawyers, including President of the Nepal Bar Association Chandeshwor Shrestha and NBA Central Committee member Prakash Maharjan, were injured today when police used force against the protesting lawyers who were staging a sit-in at the main entrance of the Supreme Court.

While Shrestha suffered minor injuries, Maharjan was hit in the head and is undergoing treatment at a hospital, according to a press release issued by the NBA.

Senior Advocate Sabita Bhandari Baral, Secretary of the Supreme Court Bar Association Rishiram Ghimire, advocates Kapilchandra Ghimire, Yubaraj Banjade, Nitesh Shrestha, Raman Lal Karna, and Gopal Sapkota were also injured in police action.

The lawyers were protesting in front of the Supreme Court in Kathmandu demanding Chief Justice Cholendra Shumsher Rana’s resignation.

The lawyers on Thursday also vowed not to let Rana enter the Supreme Court. They have been trying to stop the chief justice from reaching office since Friday. However, Rana was using another gate to enter his office, while lawyers staged their sit-ins in front of the main gate.

On Thursday, according to court officials, the lawyers moved towards another gate that Rana had been using, only to be stopped by security personnel. Some were injured in the scuffle.

Rishi Ghimire, secretary of the Supreme Court Bar Association and advocates Kapil Chandra Pokhrel and Yubaraj Banjade were also injured in the incident.

The protest in the Supreme Court first started on October 25 after justices refused to attend a full court meeting called by Rana. The justices accused Rana of not taking initiatives to bring reforms in the judiciary. The Supreme Court Bar Association and Nepal Bar Association then joined in. Hearings were affected, as judges boycotted benches.

But on Monday, five justices decided to return to benches, and four of them did hear cases assigned by Rana.

Lawyers, however, have said they will continue their protest as Rana’s resignation is their bottom line.

Justices now appear to have toned down their protest and are keen on returning to benches if cases are assigned through a raffle system. One of the demands of the protesting justices is that the chief justice should not prepare the cause list–which is a list of cases assigned to various justices.

After Thursday’s scuffle with police, the Nepal Bar has demanded that the Supreme Court administration remove security personnel other than those deployed for security of the court.