Police shot and killed two protesters as thousands of left-wing students on Tuesday clashed with police, blocked traffic and ransacked a movie theatre in Kathmandu (Nepal) to protest a remark allegedly made by actor Hrithik Roshan against Nepal.

Roshan had allegedly said the country and people he hated the most were Nepal and the Nepalese in an interview to an Indian television channel on Dec 14.

Policemen first fired in the air to avert arson by a mob at a theatre screening Mission Kashmir starring Hrithik Roshan.

But they shot dead two students after they were attacked with stones, a police officer said. Four policemen were seriously injured in stone throwing by the students. Nearly 5,000 students from at least half a dozen colleges in Kathmandu took out protests in colleges and poured into the streets, blocking traffic for at least two hours.

In Bombay, Roshan denied he had made the comment. "I have never given a television interview to any channel stating that I dislike Nepal and its people," Roshan told earlier in the day.