Katmandu, Nepal ? The Nepalese capital ran low on fresh food and fuel Sunday because of a general strike that shut down the city, and thousands of angry pro-democracy demonstrators clashed with police firing rubber bullets.

The emboldened opposition urged Nepalis to stop paying taxes to the government of King Gyanendra, who responded by further banning protests on the capital’s outskirts.

Sunday’s pro-democracy rallies across the Himalayan kingdom attracted tens of thousands of people and were the biggest since opponents of Gyanendra’s royal dictatorship began their campaign of protests and a nationwide strike that has cut off Nepal’s cities for 11 days.

Still, Gyanendra appeared unready to relinquish power over this mountain kingdom that has long attracted Western hippies in search of Eastern spirituality and mountain climbers looking to scale peaks like Mount Everest.

In Katmandu, many of the capital’s 1.5 million residents struggled to find everything from fresh vegetables to gasoline. Customers could only buy about $4 worth of gasoline, enough for about a gallon. At most stations, signs read: “No petrol, no diesel.”

Opposition party supporters pass by the burnt-out shell of a passenger bus, during a protest against King Gyanendra in Katmandu, Nepal, Sunday April 16, 2006. Nepalese police fired rubber bullets on hundreds of pro-democracy protesters on the outskirts of the capital Sunday, wounding at least six demonstrators.

The prices for what few vegetables could be found have risen fivefold since the strike started April 6, and the prices of chicken and mutton have doubled.

“We have not had a single truck come in the past 11 days. Whatever we are selling was what we had in stock, or grown locally in Katmandu,” vegetable vendor Raj Maharjan said at the city’s Baneswor market.

Gyanendra seized power in February 2005, saying he needed control to restore political order and end a communist insurgency that has killed nearly 13,000 people in the past decade. The rebels are backing the opposition campaign.