Tension flared up in Biratnagar on Monday evening after cadres of agitating Samyukta Loktantrik Madhesi Morcha (SLMM) clashed with police. The situation became tense after the protesters allegedly hurled a petrol bomb at a police team patrolling Malaya Road area. 

Police had to resort to action after the SLMM cadres attacked the security patrol, Morang Police Chief SSP Tarani Prasad Lamsal said. 

After the police team was provoked, the police team tried to chase away the protesters who were staging sit-in at Malaya road around 7 in the evening. The Morcha cadres had been staging sit-in at the road that lies 3 km north of Nepal-India border region Rani since Sunday night. 

According to Morang district leader of Sanghiya Samajbadi Forum Nepal Umesh Yadav, police have fired around a dozen teargas shells and equal number of shots into the air. The number of protesters increased after the cadres ran out of the sit-in location 

SP Lamsal said the police fired a few blank shots into the air and a few rounds of teargas shells.