Nepal police break up pro-democracy protests News
Nepal police break up pro-democracy protests

[JURIST] Nepalese police on Saturday used tear gas to disperse protesters gathered to demand democratic reforms in the country after King Gyanendra [BBC profile] seized power [JURIST report] from the interim government last year. Many of Saturday's protesters threw stones and fought with police, and as many as 300 students were taken away in police vehicles [BBC report]. On Thursday, the government arrested [JURIST report] activists and opposition party leaders in an attempt to shut down the anti-government rally before it started. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, as well as the Human Rights Chief for Nepal, has voiced dismay [Reuters report] at the widespread political arrests on the eve of the demonstration and has called on all sides to resume talks [UN News report]. The US has also condemned the arrests [State Dept. statement; Times of India report]. AP has more.

THIS DAY @ LAW

Thomas Becket, former Chancellor of England, murdered by Henry II's knights

On December 29, 1170, Archbishop Thomas Becket, former Chancellor of England, was murdered in Canterbury Cathedral by knights acting in the name of Henry II.

Becket and Henry had been entangled in a power struggle over, among other things, criminal jurisdiction over clergy. Read a contemporary account of the murder of Thomas Becket.

Texas attains US statehood

On December 29, 1845, Texas became the twenty-eighth state to join the United States of America when US President James K. Polk signed the Ordinance of Annexation. Texas had a complicated path to statehood because it had formerly been part of Mexico and then an independent republic. The US Congress passed the Annexation of the Republic of Texas Joint Resolution on March 1, 1845. Voters in Texas then approved the Ordinance of Annexation in October, before it was approved by the US Congress and signed into law by President Polk on this day in 1845. The US Supreme Court later ruled in Texas v. White that, despite its unique path to statehood, Texas did not have the right to secede from the union.