Thousands of Nepalis marched, danced and sung in the capital's streets on Wednesday to celebrate "the dawn of the republic" hours before the Himalayan nation was set to abolish its once-revered Hindu monarchy.
A special assembly elected in April will hold its first meeting on Wednesday to declare a republic. Many Nepalis hope it will be the final chapter of a peace process ending a decade-long war that killed more than 13,000 people.
"Let's celebrate the dawn of a republic in a grand manner," one loudspeaker blared from the top of a taxi.
Thousands of Nepalis gathered in the historic parts of Kathmandu and near the site of the assembly, ringed by riot police.
Demonstrators chanted "Long Live the Republic!" and sung songs deriding the king.
Security is tight in the capital after a series of bomb blasts, some blamed on pro-royalist groups, over the past few days. No one was killed in the explosions.
Unpopular King Gyanendra is expected to vacate his pink pagoda-roofed palace in the capital Kathmandu soon after the vote.
He has made few comments on his future plans, except to say he wanted to remain in Nepal.
The government has given him a fortnight to leave the palace but warned said he could be forced out if he refuses.
It has been a dramatic decline and fall for a king once waited upon by thousands of retainers. Many Nepalis revered the monarch in majority-Hindu Nepal as an incarnation of Lord Vishnu, the god of protection.
