An activist writes Madhesi State on a deserted road in Birgunj, Nepal. (Reuters)

Kathmandu, Feb. 3 (Reuters): Police shot dead an ethnic Madhesi demonstrator in southeast Nepal today, an official said, taking the number of people killed in a fortnight of protests calling for autonomy to 15.

Protests by the Madhesi People’s Rights Forum, representing people living in Nepal’s southern plains, have clouded peace moves between the government and Maoists ending a decade-old conflict.

The shooting took place in the frontier town of Birgunj, 60 km southeast of Kathmandu, when hundreds defied a curfew and forced their way into a police post, Shambhu Koirala, the chief administrator of the town, said.

“Police were forced to take action when protesters attacked them,” Koirala said.

At least 12 protesters were wounded. Six of them were taken by helicopter to Kathmandu for treatment, he said.

The Madhesi group says “ruling elites” dominated by people from the northern hills have kept them out of jobs in the government, police and army, and seats in Nepal’s interim parliament.

Yesterday, the government named a three-member team and invited Madhesi leaders for talks aimed at ending the violence.

Upendra Yadav, chief of the forum leading the protests, said talks would be possible only if home minister Krishna Prasad Sitaula resigned. He accused the minister of failing to check what he called the excessive use of force against protesters.

During talks, Yadav demanded an autonomous state for his people.

“We put our demand for an autonomous Madhesh state with the right to self-determination in a federal system during our meeting,” Upendra Yadav, the forum’s leader, said after the meeting. “There should also be a proportional election system to ensure proper representation of the Madhesi people in the Constituent Assembly.”