Nov. 13 (Bloomberg) -- Dozens of people were injured yesterday in Nepal’s capital, Kathmandu, as police clashed with Maoist demonstrators protesting the president’s refusal to fire the army chief.

Riot police baton-charged supporters of the Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) and fired tear gas as protesters picketed the administrative hub of the capital and tried to stop government employees from going to work, Nepalnews.com reported. Maoist lawmakers were among more than 50 people injured, according to the report.

Maoist leader Puspa Kamal Dahal, who led a 10-year insurgency, resigned as prime minister in May after President Ram Baran Yadav overturned his decision to dismiss Army Chief of Staff Rookmand Katawal for refusing to integrate former rebel fighters into the military. Demonstrations and strikes are obstructing parliamentary business and delaying the drafting of a new constitution for the Himalayan nation.

Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal said in a statement he is committed to finding a solution to the stalemate and called on “all sides to show flexibility by realizing the ground reality,” Nepalnews.com reported.

The Maoists ended their fight to overthrow Nepal’s 240- year-old monarchy in 2006 under a United Nations-backed peace accord and Dahal became prime minister in August last year following general elections.

After Dahal stepped down, the Maoists refused to join a new government headed by the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist) and want the president either to resign or fire the army chief. They also want all parties to declare the president’s reinstatement of Katawal “unconstitutional.”

Relations between the army and the Maoist-led government were strained earlier this year when the military went on a recruitment drive and said it had filled all vacancies in the 93,000-member force. The army resisted integrating former rebels, a condition of the peace accord, saying they’ve been politically indoctrinated.

To contact the reporters on this story: Ed Johnson in Sydney at ejohnson28@bloomberg.net; Jay Shankar in Bangalore at jshankar1@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: November 12, 2009 17:28 EST