KATHMANDU, April 11 (Xinhua) -- Dozens of people were injured Tuesday in a clash between protesters and security forces in downtown Kathmandu city, a media source said.

    "At least 90 protesters injured, seven of them seriously, when police clashed with protester at Samakhusi area of the city," Bikash Bhattarai, local reporter of Nepal Samacharpatra, vernacular national daily, told Xinhua by phone from the clash site.

    "The police fired dozens of rounds of rubber bullets and the agitators were beaten by stick while demonstrators were demonstrating defying curfew orders," Bhattarai quoted eyewitnesses as saying.

    More than 500 Armed Police Force personnel have been deployed to the site to control the demonstrators, Bhattarai noted, adding, "Nearly two dozen protesters were arrested from the area."

    Agitators and police were clashing when Bhattarai was talking with Xinhua.

    The Nepali government has declared a 5-hour curfew in the capital Kathmandu Valley on Tuesday beginning 12:00 p.m. local time (0615 GMT).

    This is the fourth day that the Nepali government imposed curfew with in the Ring Road area, the periphery of downtown Kathmandu and Lalitpur areas, of the valley. Enditem