Hundreds of anti-King protesters took to the streets today, burning tyres, hurling stones at police and chanting pro-democracy slogans as a four-day nationwide general strike entered its second day.

Police arrested at least 750 people for defying a ban on protests in Kathmandu today and fired teargas and beat protesters with bamboo sticks, activists and witnesses said. ‘‘At least 100 people from Nepali Congress and 100 from the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist Leninist) were arrested on Friday morning’’ at protests in Kathmandu, said the Nepali Congress spokesman .

Students shouting ‘‘Death to Gyanendra’’ charged at riot police in the Tribhuvan University campus here. Carrying a Communist Party flag, hundreds of students hurled rocks at police. Some beat up a constable who got separated from his comrades.

‘‘Vacate Narayanhiti, Democratic Republic is arriving,’’ some activists shouted, referring to the royal palace in Kathmandu. ‘‘We want Democracy’’, “Down with Gyanendra”, ‘‘Gyanendra leave the country’’, others chanted while some student activists taunted riot police.

In Kirtipur, just outside Kathmandu, protesters blocked roads to prevent police reinforcements before marching through the town shouting slogans against the King. ‘‘We are being peaceful and we will do everything peacefully to get our rights back,’’ said Om Thapliyal, a Kirtipur activist.

The latest campaign is backed by Nepal’s Maoist insurgents but the rebels are not taking part in the protests and have announced an indefinite ceasefire in the Kathmandu region to help the political demonstrations.

The main rally is due in Kathmandu on Saturday, April 8, the day multi-party democracy was established in Nepal 16 years ago.