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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.

The rallies included small protests in Katmandu’s tourist hub and commercial heart – the first in the capital’s center, where rallies are banned.

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 such as Mount Everest.

His government extended the ban on demonstrations to the outskirts of Katmandu and the suburb of Lalitpur, where many rallies have been held.

In Katmandu, many of the capital’s 1.5 million residents struggled to find everything from fresh vegetables to gasoline.

“I pushed my motorcycle all the way here. I have no choice but to wait for hours to get petrol,” said Sundar Thapa as he lined up at one of the few open gas stations. Customers could buy only about $4 worth of gasoline, or about a gallon.

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.

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.