The whiteboard listing the names of patients at a hospital in central Kathmandu tells the story of a protest gone badly wrong. Beside each name is written their ages; 18, 22, 20, 18, 23. The list goes on.

By Wednesday morning there were still scores of Nepal’s young being treated for gunshot wounds and injuries sustained when police opened fire on protesters in Kathmandu on Monday.

These are the so-called gen Z protesters, a generation of young Nepalis who led a mass protest against government corruption, nepotism and a ban on social media sites, and paid for it with bullet wounds and in some cases their lives. Hundreds were injured and at least 22 are believed to have died.

From his hospital bed, Saurav*, an 18-year-old college student, said he had been excited to join the protest. “When it comes to the nation, there is no need for motivation. The politicians are just selling our country for their own greed. That’s not supposed to happen,” he said.

The violence that broke out before the police opened fire on the huge crowds that had gathered outside the parliament building in Kathmandu on Mondays was, insists Saurav, instigated by groups outside their anti-corruption movement.

As the shooting started, a protester standing in front of Saurav was shot in the chest and died on the spot, he said. Pellets from the shot hit his hand. “I was screaming in pain and my friends carried me to this hospital … It was totally unnecessary. Killing people, I don’t think that’s humanity. That’s just disgusting,” he said.

By Tuesday afternoon the prime minister, KP Sharma Oli, had resigned and thousands of Nepalis had taken to the streets to spontaneously celebrate his downfall and express their anger.

The mood initially was one of jubilation at what many saw as the end of widespread government corruption, and bitter resentment at the killing of the protesters the day before.

For the past 10 years, Nepal has been ruled by the same three elderly leaders – Oli, Sher Bahadur Deuba and Pushpa Kamal Dahal – who have effectively taken up the post of prime minister on a rotating basis. Between them, they have led the country on 12 separate occasions. While yesterday’s protests may have been triggered by the government’s ban on dozens of social media sites last week, it was built on years of frustration and anger at politicians who are widely viewed as corrupt and self-serving.

By 4pm the main roads into the heart of the city were packed with protesters, many on motorbikes, chanting, shouting and waving the Nepali flag, in defiance of a government curfew. Many more lined the streets, filming the moment and taking selfies, sensing that history was being made.

Much of the anger was directed at Oli, with handwritten signs scrawled on walls and T-shirts calling for him to be killed. “He killed our youth. He should be dead,” said one.

The focus of the crowds was Singha Durbar, the complex of government ministries, which was then breached and much of it set on fire. One group drove a police van out of the main gate, carrying dozens of triumphant protesters on its roof. Three young men scaled the ornate entrance gate to wave the national flag. On the ground below, a group belted out the national anthem. A small number of soldiers stood by but did little to intervene. There was no sign of the police.

As thick, acrid smoke belched out across the streets and over the city, some protesters emerged from the burning buildings carrying reams of paper, office chairs and computer monitors.

“This is a revolution. This is the end of the corruption. It’s our turn now,” said Sujan Dahal, a young Nepali celebrating the downfall of the prime minister in Kathmandu on Tuesday. “The government was so corrupt. They used that money to improve their own lives, but there has been no change in the lives of normal people.”

By the end of the day, the scale of destruction had shocked many Nepalis, amid a sense that the movement has been sabotaged by groups seemingly bent on retribution and violence.

“I’m feeling bad. This is not good for us,” said a young man, who did not want to give his name. Along with government ministries and residences, dozens of other properties have been set on fire across the city, including a luxury hotel and a prestigious private school.

Throughout the day, groups of protesters had formed human chains around some sites to protect them, including the entrance to an army camp. “We are protecting the army. We are not against the army. We are against the government. The corruption. They are trying to shut our voices by stopping social media. Today we won. It is our victory. Oli has resigned,” said Sajad Ansari, 20.

By Wednesday morning, the administrative heart of Kathmandu looked like the aftermath of a missile attack. Burnt-out buildings stood smouldering in the light rain. The charred shells of cars and motorbikes lay strewn across the streets. Plumes of dark smoke still rose over the city.

The city is now in a state of almost complete lockdown, with soldiers stationed at major junctions enforcing a strict curfew.

It is unclear what shape a future government might take.

It is a sentiment shared by Saurav even as he recovers from his injuries but, like many, he remains optimistic. “If the power is in the right hands, of course Nepal will develop,” he said. “Our young generation are very capable. We don’t seek for our own greed. We think about the good of the nation.”

* Name has been changed

Anna Wintour, the outgoing editor-in-chief of Vogue, has addressed Meryl Streep’s performance as a formidable glossy fashion-mag editor widely perceived to be based on her in the 2006 comedy The Devil Wears Prada.

Based on the novel of the same name by Lauren Weisberger, who previously worked as Wintour’s assistant, the film starred Anne Hathaway as an aspiring reporter who secures a post as a lackey to the ice-cold editor of fictional publication Runway.

“I went to the premiere wearing Prada, completely having no idea what the film was going to be about,” Wintour said to New Yorker editor David Remnick on his podcast for the magazine. “And I think that the fashion industry were very sweetly concerned for me about the film, that it was going to paint me in some kind of difficult light.”

Remnick suggested it was “cartoonish”, to which Wintour agreed, adding: “Yes, a caricature.”

Yet Wintour said she was surprised by the subtlety of the portrayal, and impressed more generally by the film. “I found it highly enjoyable. It was very funny. Miuccia [Prada] and I talk about it a lot, and I say to her: ‘Well, it was really good for you.’”

The film, Wintour added, “had a lot of humour to it. It had a lot of wit. It had Meryl Streep. I mean, it was Emily Blunt, [and] they were all amazing. In the end, I thought it was a fair shot.” Streep was Oscar-nominated for her portrayal.

In the past, Wintour demurred over enquiries asking for her take on the film, last year telling the BBC at a performance of the West End musical adapted from the film that it was “for the audience and for the people I work with to decide if there are any similarities between me and Miranda Priestly [the fictional editor]”.

A sequel to the film is currently shooting in New York, with Kenneth Branagh joining returning stars Hathaway, Streep, Blunt and Stanley Tucci. The original film took $326m from a $40m budget and has enjoyed a considerable cultural afterlife.

Wintour’s replacement as editor-in-chief of Vogue was recently announced as Chloe Malle, daughter of acclaimed French film director Louis Malle. Wintour continues as chief content officer for Condé Nast and global editorial director of Vogue.

Nepal’s military has taken over the streets of the capital, Kathmandu, in a bid to end two days of protests against corruption that rapidly escalated into a full-blown public revolt against the country’s political elite, culminating in Prime Minister KP Oli’s resignation on Tuesday.

At least 19 people were killed in clashes with security forces on Monday that further inflamed protesters, who on Tuesday set the country’s Parliament building on fire while also torching the homes of several prominent politicians.

On Wednesday, amid a curfew, the Nepali army ordered people to stay at home.

Yet with Oli no longer prime minister, questions about Nepal’s political future are growing, especially with the Gen Z protesters who forced his removal unwilling to settle for a replacement prime minister from the current parliament.

So who is in charge in Nepal at the moment – and what happens next?

What happened in Nepal?

Youth-led “Gen Z” protests began in Kathmandu and other cities of Nepal on Monday.

The demonstrations were against corruption scandals in the country and were prompted by rising anger online towards the children of Nepali government officials – dubbed “Nepo kids” – who document their lavish lifestyles online. The protests broke out days after the country blocked more than 20 social media sites for not complying with government rules. This ban has since been lifted.

A few hours into the protest on Monday, demonstrators broke through police barricades and entered Parliament premises. Some people defied a curfew ordered by authorities. The police ended up shooting live rounds at the protesters, killing at least 19 people and injuring more than 100.

On Tuesday, curfews were imposed in several districts of Nepal. However, protesters defied the curfew orders and set fire to government buildings, including the parliament, alongside the office of the country’s leading daily news media organisation, Kantipur Publications.

Oli, who was elected as PM for the fourth time last year, announced his resignation. Other ministers in Nepal also resigned from their posts.

Nepali ministers had to be evacuated through helicopters to protect them from the flames and mob attacks. Protesters also began to break into prisons and free inmates.

What’s behind the army deployment in Nepal?

The Nepali army was deployed after 10pm (16:15 GMT) on Tuesday.

While military mobilisation is relatively uncommon in Nepal, Bishnu Raj Upreti, a public policy analyst and research director at Nepal Centre for Contemporary Research (NCCR), told Al Jazeera that the army has been deployed in Nepal on the streets in the past.

The most prominent example of that, he said, was “during the later half of the Maoist insurgency period”. Nepal’s civil war lasted from 1996 to 2006. It began when the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) launched an armed rebellion against the monarchy and government. The Maoist insurgency ended with the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Accord in November 2006, leading to the abolition of the monarchy and the establishment of a federal democratic republic in Nepal two years later.

This week, as protests erupted, the army initially remained in its barracks but was called out onto the streets by President Ram Chandra Poudel after the Nepali police was unable to control the soaring agitation.

“The situation was out of control of civilian government,” Upreti said. “Hence army came into the forefront in coordination with president. It is a crisis management option.”

Before the army’s mobilisation, the chiefs of Nepal’s security forces, alongside the army, released a statement, urging restraint and peace.

The statement, originally in Nepali, says: “As coordination is under way between the relevant parties to address the situation after the protest and resolve the problem, any demonstrations, vandalism, looting, arson, and attacks on individuals and property in the name of the protest will be considered punishable crimes and strict action will be taken by security personnel.

“In addition, the Nepali Army is confident that it will continue to fulfill its respective responsibilities to maintain national unity and social harmony and normalise public life.”

Is the army in charge?

Officially, experts said, the army’s role is merely to restore order, and not to fill the administrative gap left by Oli’s resignation.

“At present, the army’s role is confined to ensuring security rather than exercising administrative control,” Yog Raj Lamichhane, an assistant professor at the School of Business in Nepal’s Pokhara University, told Al Jazeera.

In practice, though, Upreti said the army was effectively in charge of the country at the moment, because President Poudel – seen as a part of the same ruling elite that the protesters want to remove from power – lacks credibility among the Gen Z campaigners for change.

“Even if there is ceremonial president above the army, he is not accepted by the Gen-Z so he has to rely on coordination with the army,” he said. “Functionally, the army is in charge, [though] constitutionally the president is still in charge of the country.”

How and when could an interim government be formed?

Paudel and the Nepali army have called the protesters for talks on the country’s political future, with the president positioning himself as a convener of that dialogue, Lamichhane said.

But first, more than 3,200 young Nepalis are currently huddling in an online discussion on social media messaging platform Discord to debate “who will officially take part in the talks and what issues will be discussed”, said Anish Ghimre, a Nepali journalist with the Kathmandu Post, arguably Nepal’s most reputed English publication, and a part of the Kantipur group.

Some of the potential demands they could make include the dissolution of parliament, new elections within six months – or, at most, a year – and possibly, a mechanism to directly elect the prime minister. Term limits for prime ministers, and a reduced term for parliament – from five years to four – might also figure in their demands, Ghimre suggested. Like other parliamentary systems, Nepal’s voters elect their legislature, and it is the party that comes to power that chooses the prime minister.

There are currently no term limits for prime ministers, but no PM has completed a five-year term since the country adopted its post-monarchy constitution in 2008.

Who are the potential contenders to lead Nepal next?

“If the process remains within the constitutional framework,” the next PM – even if in an interim capacity – would need to come from the current members of parliament, Lamichhane said.

“However, if it extends beyond existing provisions, former chief justices are seen as potential candidates,” he said, while adding that “populist youth figures” could also emerge as contenders.

The most prominent among them is 35-year-old rapper-turned-mayor of Kathmandu, Balendra “Balen” Shah.

In comments and posts online, several Nepali social media users supporting the protests have backed Shah as the South Asian country’s next premier. Balen has supported the protests. On Tuesday, he posted on social media, urging demonstrators to exercise restraint.

Shah became Kathmandu’s mayor in 2022, winning the seat as an independent candidate. Before this, he was a musician who used his work to highlight corruption and inequality. However, Shah has also been a controversial figure – a crackdown on street vendors drew criticism from civil society leaders last year. He has also backed the idea of a Greater Nepal – with parts of present-day India included.

In recent months, Nepal’s pro-monarchy movement has also seen a revival, with sections welcoming the former king, 77-year-old Gyanendra Shah, on the streets of Kathmandu in March.

However, experts say the current protesters do not want a monarchy to be reinstated.

“The movement did not demand this, and the republic remains the fundamental framework under discussion,” Lamichhane said.