Brussels, 07/02/2006 (Agence Europe) - In the year since its coup, the Nepalese monarchy has only worsened the situation in one of the world's poorest countries, lamented those who took part in a seminar in Brussels on 1st February to mark the first anniversary of the takeover by King Gyanendra. With representatives of the Austrian Presidency, the Commission and Michael Mathiessen, the Personal Representative for Human Rights of Javier Solana, the seminar called for the return of democracy and human rights and expressed its concern over the fairness of municipal elections due on 8 February. Arjun Karki, President of the NGO Federation of Nepal and coordinator of the South Asia Alliance for Poverty Eradication (SAAPE), said “in the name of restoring peace and democracy, the King is consolidating absolute power and heading for complete autocracy”. The royal regime in Nepal has been “a total disaster” and its continuation would only further worsen the existing humanitarian crisis, he said. The seminar was followed by a demonstration, which Eurostep Director Simon Stocker hoped would serve to show “our support to those Nepalese struggling to bring an end, by non-violent means, to the King's autocratic rule”. Several hundred people, members of the Nepalese community and from development and human rights NGOs, demonstrated in front of the European Institutions in Brussels, with parallel events being held in Kathmandu, Bangkok, Hong Kong, Delhi and Washington (see EUROPE 9122 for recent statement from Austrian Presidency).